Banks in South Africa


ABSA	First Rand Group	FNB	Nedbank	Standard Bank	WesBank

ABSA – A leading South African banking group with over 12 million retail and corporate customers. The Group offers financial products and services in RSA, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
ABN AMRO
African Bank Investments Ltd. (ABIL) – The country's largest credit bank, which operates in RSA, Zambia, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland. The focus of the group is to underwrite largely unsecured credit risk through the provision of personal loans to the formally employed emerging market.
Al Baraka Bank – The pioneer of Islamic banking in South Africa, has been operating in RSA for over 20 years. It is a subsidiary of the Bahrain-based Al Baraka Banking Group.
Bidvest Bank – A leading specialist provider of travel foreign exchange and related services. It focuses on all major currencies through a correspondent global network.
Capitec Bank Holdings – A commercial bank headquartered in Stellenbosch, South Africa. As of February 2012, the company had R23.6 billion (US$3.2 bn) in total assets.
FirstRand Group – One of the largest financial institutions in the country. It includes FNB, Rand Merchant Bank, OutSurance, Momentum and WesBank.
First National Bank (FNB) – FNB is the oldest bank in South Africa and one of South Africa's "big four" banks. It now operates as a division of FirstRand Bank.
Grindrod Bank (GRDB) – A commercial bank in South Africa, established in 1994. It was originally known as Marriott Merchant Bank and changed its name to Grindrod Bank in November 2006.
HBZ Bank – A wholly owned subsidiary of Habib Bank AG Zurich. It was launched in South Africa in 1995 and maintains branches in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Gauteng and has a division specialising in Islamic Banking.
Investec Group – Investec is an international banking group, which is engaged in providing broad range of financial products and services. In 2002, it became the first South African company to list on both the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges. The group employs approximately 6700 people worldwide.
Mercantile Bank Holdings – An investment holding company, providing international and domestic banking services to retail and corporate customers. It has two subsidiaries: Mercantile Bank and Mercantile Insurance Brokers that provides life insurance and short-term broking services. Mercantile Bank Holdings is a division of Caixa Geral de Depositos S.A.
Nedbank Group – The South Africa’s fourth largest banking group measured by assets. The group offers a wide range of wholesale and retail banking services through five main business clusters.
Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) – RMB is a diversified financial services brand encompassing investment banking, fund management, private wealth management and advisory services. All businesses in the RMB brand stable form part of the wider FirstRand Group.
Sasfin Bank – A niche banking and financial services group headquartered in Waverley. The company serves both individuals and businesses, focusing on large corporate clients and high net worth individuals. Sasfin was founded in Johannesburg in 1951 by Sydney Sassoon – father of the current CEO Roland Sassoon.
South African Reserve Bank – The central bank of the RSA. It maintains that South Africa has a growing economy based on the principles of a market system, private and social initiative, effective competition and social fairness.
Standard Bank Group – A universal bank and full-service financial group with operations in 17 African countries. Outside the African continent, the Bank's operations span 15 countries, with an emerging market focus. It is the largest South African banking group by assets and earnings.
Teba Bank (Ubank) – A South African bank operating in the microfinance sector. In October 2010, Teba Bank has officially changed its name to Ubank.
United Bank – Allied Bank, United Bank and Volkskas Bank stop trading under their own names, from this point they all trade under the name "ABSA".
WesBank – Wesbank was founded in 1968 and currently the largest provider of vehicle finance in South Africa, financing 1 in 3 new cars sold. The Bank operates as a division of FirstRand Bank.

See also: Foreign Banks in South Africa

The Largest Banks in South Africa

The Table below shows the Top 17 banks in South Africa ranked by total assets as of December 31, 2009.

		Total assets (R m, 12/2009)	Total assets (R m, 12/2008)
1	Standard Bank of South Africa	803 028	861 396
2	Absa Bank	649 142	707 828
3	FirstRand Bank	548 333	607 766
4	Nedbank	509 739	506 359
5	Investec Bank	181 663	170 528
6	Imperial Bank	54 510	47 245
7	African Bank	24 191	17 370
9	Capitec Bank	8 620	4 554
8	Mercantile Bank	5 829	5 930
10	Teba Bank	3 365	3 116
12	Albaraka Bank	2 365	1 869
11	Grindrod Bank	2 119	1 893
13	HBZ Bank	1 957	1 853
14	Bidvest Bank	1 726	1 509
15	Sasfin Bank	1 536	1 407
16	The South African Bank of Athens	1 268	1 356
17	Habib Overseas Bank	751	647