BuaNews (Tshwane)
2 July 2009
Pretoria — South Africa's banking system has remained stable with banks being adequately profitable despite the economic turmoil experienced in international financial markets, said the South African Reserve Bank (SARB).
According to the Bank Supervision Annual Report 2008, which was released on Thursday, the Central Bank said the country's banking sector's capital-adequacy ratio increased from 11.8 percent in January 2008 to 13 percent at the end of December last year.
"Not withstanding the turmoil experienced in international financial markets and the domestic cyclical economic developments during 2008, the South African banking system again remained stable, and banks were adequately capitalised and profitable," said the SARB spokesperson Brian Hoga.
The country's four biggest banks are Standard Bank, Absa, First Rand and Nedbank.
"Banks remained profitable throughout 2008, despite the turmoil experienced in international financial markets and the domestic cyclical economic developments," said Mr Hoga.
The report stated that the total banking-sector assets increased from R2 663 billion in January 2008 to R3 170 billion at the end of last year.
"Total assets of the four largest banks, amounting to R2 676 billion, accounted for 84.4 percent of total banking sector assets," according to the report.
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