While South Africa’s banking sector already ranks as one of the best regulated and well capitalised in the region, regulatory changes are set to bring further improvements to the industry’s soundness and stability, as well as the treatment of its customers. The sector does, however, continue to face headwinds. As expansion of the broader economy has slowed, loan growth for banks has also eased...
South Africa Financial Services
The second-largest economy in Africa after Nigeria, South Africa benefits from some of the most sophisticated financial markets in the world, paired with a robust regulatory system, and is also home to the headquarters of a number of major multinational players in the fields of industry, energy and financial services.
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The second-largest economy in Africa after Nigeria, South Africa benefits from some of the most sophisticated financial markets in the world, paired with a robust regulatory system, and is also home to the headquarters of a number of major multinational players in the fields of industry, energy and financial services.
With both performance and assets outstripping the continent’s other large emerging markets in Egypt, Nigeria and Morocco, South Africa’s banking sector is the biggest and most developed on the continent. The economy has been shaken by the global financial crisis: the rand has seen unusual volatility, and demand from key markets in Europe and Asia has dropped. However, the country’s banks have...
In April 2014 South Africans celebrated the 20th anniversary of both the end of apartheid and the creation of the modern Republic of South Africa. These two events highlight just how far South Africa has come in the past two decades, during which the nation’s numerous assets have contributed to its rise as one of Africa’s leading economic and diplomatic players.
As the continent’s most developed insurance sector, South Africa accounts for some 52% of African non-life premiums. The short-term insurance market is primarily focused on property and auto products, which together make up almost 75% of short-term gross premiums. Speedy growth in the number of independent insurers has created a robust takeover environment for the major insurers. However, the...
Chapter | Capital Markets from The Report: South Africa 2013
Home to the world’s 19th-largest exchange, South Africa has mature capital markets able to serve not only the domestic economy but also the wider continent. As global risk appetite for emerging market equities returned from mid-September 2012 following concerted interventions by the world’s central banks, South African equities rallied sharply. Bonds also did well in 2012, despite sovereign...
Competition in South Africa’s highly concentrated banking sector has led to it having the highest penetration rates – both in terms of credit to GDP and banked customers – of any African country. The sector had recovered from the effects of the global financial crisis on the real economy by the start of 2012, but significant uncertainties remain, stemming mainly from the flat growth outlook in...