UK-based international banking advisory group Lafferty has again ranked Capitec as the best bank in the world in its second annual Bank Quality Rankings. Lafferty uses a combination of financial and non-financial disclosures in banking groups’ latest annual reports to determine the quality of the organisations and their respective business models. The group stressed that it does not only look at financials and ratios, but also factors in future-facing aspects, such as strategy, as well as culture, customer satisfaction, executing brand promises and other criteria.
According to the report’s findings, Capitec again came out on top, retaining its position as the only five star rated bank out of the 100 global banking groups listed. Barclays Africa was ranked second overall, with all the rest of South Africa’s ‘Banking Mafia’ (Standard Bank, Nedbank and FNB) only attaining a four-star ranking; deservedly so!
“When you look at the five together, the South Africans have a higher average score than the banks in any other country in the world,” said Lafferty founder and chairman, Michael Lafferty. The banking expert described the bank as “remarkable”, with a drive and determination that sets them apart from other global banks. With Capitec, he said that the group’s model and culture would do very well in other markets, especially in the UK.
According to Lafferty, of the eight banks that get a four or five-star rating, six of them are in emerging markets – five in South Africa. The two non-EM banks rated so highly are in the US and in Sweden. The banking expert said that more than half the banks assessed scored less than 40% of the available points for benchmarking, reflecting a banking market that is unable to recover from an ongoing crisis. European banking is in a bad way, and things in the US aren’t going as well as many like to believe, and “things are not getting better,” he said.