In The Asian Banker Strongest Banks By Balance Sheet evaluation for 2018, half of the top 10 strongest banks in Africa are from Egypt. Banks in this country also achieved the highest weighted average strength score at 3.78 out of five. Egyptian banks continued to deliver robust financial performance, especially in the areas of balance sheet growth, asset quality and liquidity. They are funded by stable and low-cost domestic deposits and the weighted average cost to income ratio of Egyptian banks on the list was only 28%, the lowest among banks in Africa. Their overall capitalisation experienced some improvement in 2017, although capital buffers for Egyptian banks are still relatively weak.

The continued sluggish economic growth and ongoing political uncertainty and problems with state-owned enterprises in South Africa exerted a substantial impact on the financial performance of South African banks, which used to dominate. In 2017, the weighted average strength score for banks in South Africa was 3.34, the second highest in Africa. The balance sheet growth in South African banking sector remained in the low single-digits. On average, net loans of South African banks grew by 3.3% and deposit expanded by 4.9%. Similarly, they recorded low operating profit growth at 4.5%, despite improvement in net interest margins and impairment charges.

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