Largest banks in Sub-Saharan Africa
The largest banking groups in Sub-Saharan Africa, ranked by total assets, with capital and profitability for every bank.
Standard Bank Group leads the region with US$218bn and is ranked 134th in the world.
No bank from the region is yet large enough to enter The Global Banker's Global Top 100. The table also shows equity, return on assets and return on equity, so size can be read alongside capital and profitability.
Largest banks in Sub-Saharan Africa 2026
Ranked by total assets, US$ billions
| Source | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Standard Bank GroupSouth Africa · ROE 17.5% | 134 | 218.2 | 17.6 | 8.1% | 1.41% | 17.5% | Dec 2025 | Company report |
| 2 | FirstRandSouth Africa · ROE 18.3% | 176 | 145.6 | 13.4 | 9.2% | 1.68% | 18.3% | Jun 2025 | Company report |
| 3 | Absa GroupSouth Africa · ROE 12.7% | 188 | 134.9 | 11.0 | 8.1% | 1.04% | 12.7% | Dec 2025 | Company report |
| 4 | Nedbank GroupSouth Africa · ROE 7.3% | 234 | 93.9 | 7.6 | 8.1% | 0.59% | 7.3% | Dec 2025 | Company report |
| 5 | Investec*South Africa · ROE 11.9% | 247 | 84.2 | 8.0 | 9.5% | 1.13% | 11.9% | Mar 2026 | Company report |
| 6 | Access Holdings*Nigeria · ROE 18.5% | 292 | 35.9 | 2.7 | 7.5% | 1.39% | 18.5% | Dec 2025 | Stock-exchange filing |
| 7 | Ecobank TransnationalTogo · ROE 20.7% | 295 | 34.5 | 2.0 | 5.8% | 1.20% | 20.7% | Dec 2025 | Stock-exchange filing |
| 8 | United Bank for Africa*Nigeria · ROE 9.1% | 308 | 23.1 | 2.9 | 12.4% | 1.13% | 9.1% | Dec 2025 | Stock-exchange filing |
| 9 | MCB GroupMauritius · ROE 15.3% | 310 | 22.2 | 2.6 | 11.7% | 1.79% | 15.3% | Jun 2025 | Company report |
| 10 | Zenith Bank*Nigeria · ROE 21.1% | 311 | 21.9 | 3.4 | 15.6% | 3.31% | 21.1% | Dec 2025 | Stock-exchange filing |
| 11 | First HoldCo*Nigeria · ROE 4.1% | 318 | 19.0 | 2.3 | 11.9% | 0.49% | 4.1% | Dec 2025 | Stock-exchange filing |
| 12 | KCB GroupKenya · ROE 20.2% | 321 | 16.6 | 2.6 | 15.4% | 3.11% | 20.2% | Dec 2025 | Stock-exchange filing |
| 13 | Capitec BankSouth Africa · ROE 28.3% | 322 | 16.6 | 3.7 | 22.6% | 6.39% | 28.3% | Feb 2026 | Company report |
| 14 | Equity GroupKenya · ROE 23.3% | 326 | 15.3 | 2.4 | 15.7% | 3.65% | 23.3% | Dec 2025 | Company report |
| 15 | Guaranty Trust Holding*Nigeria · ROE 25.3% | 334 | 12.4 | 2.4 | 19.0% | 4.81% | 25.3% | Dec 2025 | Stock-exchange filing |
* Investec: Dual-listed group (Investec plc and Investec Limited) reporting in sterling; financial year to 31 March 2026.
* Access Holdings: Naira returns reflect high domestic inflation and interest rates.
* United Bank for Africa: Naira returns reflect high domestic inflation and interest rates.
* Zenith Bank: Naira returns reflect high domestic inflation and interest rates.
* First HoldCo: Naira returns reflect high domestic inflation and interest rates.
* Guaranty Trust Holding: Naira returns reflect high domestic inflation and interest rates.
How to read the table. Figures in US$ billions at each bank's financial-year-end exchange rate. ROA and ROE use year-end balances. Click a column heading to sort; the source icon opens the report or filing each bank's figures were taken from. Methodology
Tap a bank to see all its figures and its source.
Methodology
The Global Banker rankings are built from each bank's own audited financial statements or official full-year results filings. Every figure in the tables links to the document it was taken from.
01Who is included
Commercial, universal, savings and cooperative banking groups, including credit unions, ranked at the consolidated group level. Listed, unlisted and state-owned groups are eligible; a state-owned bank is included only if it holds a commercial or universal banking licence and takes deposits from the public.
Subsidiaries that are consolidated by another ranked group (for example Santander Brasil or BOC Hong Kong) are not ranked separately, so no balance sheet is counted twice.
Development and policy banks (including state banks without a commercial or universal licence and public deposits), brokerages, card issuers, settlement institutions, carmakers’ and other captive finance companies, groups where insurance makes up the majority of the group, and banks subject to international sanctions are excluded. Cooperative networks are ranked only where they publish audited combined or consolidated statements.
02Financial year
All banks are compared on their FY2025 accounts: the latest audited financial year ending between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026. For most banks that is the year to 31 December 2025; Japanese and Indian banks report to 31 March 2026, Canadian banks to 31 October 2025 and Australian banks to 30 June or 30 September 2025. Banks that had not published accounts for such a year at the cut-off date are omitted rather than compared on older figures.
03Measures
- Total assets Ranking measure
- Consolidated total assets at the financial year end. This is the ranking measure for the Global Top 100 and the regional tables.
- Equity
- Equity attributable to shareholders of the parent, including additional Tier 1 and preference capital that the bank classifies as equity, and excluding non-controlling interests.
- Equity / assets
Equity divided by total assets, a simple, unweighted measure of balance-sheet capital.- ROA and ROE
Net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent (before distributions on additional Tier 1 instruments) divided by year-end total assets and year-end equity respectively.
04Currency conversion
All figures are converted into US dollars at the official reference rate published by the central bank of each bank's reporting currency for its financial year-end date (or the latest rate it published before that date, where the year-end fell on a day without a publication; pegged currencies at the official peg), so a bank's ranking reflects its balance sheet on its own reporting date.
One exception: the State Bank of Vietnam's central rate for 31 December 2025 could not be obtained from its website, so the Vietnamese banks are converted at the market closing rate for that date (26,225 dong per US dollar).
05Comparability notes
Banks report under different accounting frameworks (IFRS, US GAAP, Japanese GAAP, Indian GAAP and local regulatory standards). Figures are taken as reported and not adjusted between frameworks. US GAAP netting of derivatives tends to produce smaller balance sheets than IFRS for similar businesses.
Some banks book additional Tier 1 instruments as liabilities rather than equity; their equity figures therefore exclude them.
Turkish banks' figures are BRSA consolidated accounts, which were not inflation-adjusted for 2025. Argentine banks report in constant pesos under IAS 29. Egyptian and Nigerian banks' figures are not adjusted for inflation. Banks from these four markets are footnoted, and the regional highlights for return on equity leave them out.
Ratios are simple accounting ratios. They are not regulatory capital ratios (such as CET1) and do not measure risk-weighted capital.
06Corrections
Found an error? Email [email protected] with the bank's filing and we will review it within five working days.
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