OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 12.20pm.
RETAIL banking in South Africa is under mounting pressure, particularly where the country’s biggest four banks are concerned, the Banking Council of South Africa said on Wednesday.
Persistent demands that the banks extend services to low-income South Africans, which produces significantly lower returns than other business areas, was part of the problem, the group said in an annual report.
”Retail banking is under considerable pressure at present, especially as far as the Big Four are concerned,” it said. ”Because of their extensive interface with the public, they are exposed to constant criticism regarding their relations with their clients, and to persistent demands that they extend banking services to low-income South Africans,” it added.
South Africa’s biggest four banks — which account for more than 80% of the industry’s total assets — are Absa Group, Standard Bank Investment Corp, Nedcor and First Rand.
South African banks have been criticised for not doing enough to help low-income earners and small entrepreneurs trying to establish themselves in the wake of the official end to apartheid six years ago.
”However they [the banks] earn a significantly lower return on equity in this segment of their business than they do in their investment and merchant banking activities, and their overall ROEs are at best ‘satisfactory’,” the report said.
The average pre-tax net profit for South African banks edged up to R9,5-billion in 1999 from R9,2-billion the previous year, it said. Tax on the income fell to R2,4-billion from R2,5-billion in 1998.
ROE ratios — a key measure of profitability — ranged between 25,3% for Nedcor and 18,5% for Absa during 1999, which was significantly lower than in many other parts of Africa, the report said. It gave no comparisions for 1998.
Quoting research from KPMG, the report also noted that ROE ratios on retail banking of South Africa’s four biggest banks are significantly lower than on their investment and merchant banking activities, pulling down the overall ROE for the sector. — Reuters