Africa’s Top 100 Banks 2020: North Africa

Egypt’s banks are the resurgent stars of the Top 100 ranking, partly buoyed by foreign exchange gains against the dollar. National Bank of Egypt climbed to #4 in the overall ranking with a 17% surge in Tier 1 capital to $5.4bn, total assets of $96.7bn and net profits soaring 114% to $1.2bn, giving ROE of 23%. It tipped the former North Africa leader, Morocco’s giant Attijariwafa Bank, whose Tier 1 capital only grew 5% to $4.9bn and net profits lagged at $726m, down from #4 to #6.

Other star Egyptian banks include Commercial International Bank (CIB) with Tier 1 capital up 81% to $2.5bn and net profit up 37% at $735m, as it climbed the Africa ranking from #19 to #12. QNB Al Ahli is up one to #19 after it increased capital by 39% to $1.7bn and profits by 32% to $531m. Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt pushed up Tier 1 capital 29% to $664m and net profit up 20% to $169m, climbing one position from #42 to #41.

Morocco’s better performers included Banque Centrale Populaire with Tier 1 capital up 15% to $4.2bn (enough to stay #7 on the continental ranking) and BMCE Bank Group which pushed up capital by 17% to $2.7bn, climbing two places to #10 on the Africa ranking, although profits slipped back 8% to 269m. Tunisia’s highest ranked is Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie SA, up from #38 to #36 on the listing with capital considerably up to $713m, while Banque Nationale Agricole is down from #50 to #55 with Tier 1 capital up 10% to $459m.

Algeria’s biggest banks are Banque Nationale d’Algérie, steady at #8 with Tier 1 capital up 4% to $3bn, and Banque Exterieure d’Algérie, climbing from #11 to #9, with Tier 1 up 10% to $2.8bn. In both cases the ranking was based on December 2018 results.

Such is the strength of banking across North Africa that the #20 bank in the region is Bank of Alexandria from Egypt, #51 in the top 100 ranking with Tier 1 capital of $514m.