South Africa's financial sector ten years on: performance since democracy

Figures & data

Contribution of the financial sector to GDP

Note: Includes financial intermediation, insurance, real estate and business services.

Assets and loans as a percentage of GDP

Banking industry
	Value of assets (R bn)	Assets as a % of GDP	Value of loans and advances (R bn)	Loans and advances as a % of GDP
1993	294,6	69,1%	233,3	54,8%
1994	344,2	71,4%	270,8	56,2%
1995	399,1	72,8%	315,3	57,5%
1996	472,1	76,4%	373,0	60,4%
1997	550,5	80,3%	440,4	64,2%
1998	654,8	88,6%	510,7	69,1%
1999	728,0	90,9%	554,7	69,3%
2000	819,0	92,2%	612,6	69,0%
2001	1 049,9	106,8%	732,8	74,6%
2002	1 100,7	100,2%	800,2	72,8%
Source: Bank Supervision (various years).

Assets and liabilities of the insurance sector as a percentage of GDP

	Long‐term insurance			Short‐term insurance
	Value of assets (R bn)	Assets less liabilities (R bn)	Assets – liabilities as a % of GDP	Value of assets (R bn)	Assets less liabilities (R bn)	Assets – liabilities as a % of GDP
1994	317,3	57,7	12,0%	22,4	14,1	2,9%
1995	369,7	64,7	11,8%	26,7	17,1	3,1%
1996	443,2	88,4	14,3%	31,9	20,5	3,3%
1997	498,0	95,8	14,0%			0,0%
1998	515,8	83,1	11,2%	35,62	20,38	2,8%
1999	645,1	119,4	14,9%	39,12	19,34	2,4%
2000	709,4	108,1	12,2%	37,73	19,79	2,2%
2001	744,4	80,4	8,2%	34,54	16,2	1,6%
Source: FSB (various years).

Market capitalisation and GDP

Year	Market capitalisation (R bn)	GDP (R bn)	Market capitalisation/GDP
1993	801	426,1	188,0%
1994	921	482,1	191,0%
1995	1023,4	548,1	186,7%
1996	1130	617,9	182,9%
1997	1129,4	685,7	164,7%
1998	1001,6	738,9	135,6%
1999	1616,2	800,6	201,9%
2000	1551,5	888,1	174,7%
2001	1770,7	982,9	180,2%
2002	1584,2	1098,7	144,2%

Number of registered banks and listed companies

Market share of assets of major players in the banking industry

Expressed as % of total assets	1994	1998	2001	% change 1994–2001
ABSA	29	23	19,3	−33,4%
Stanbic	21	19,5	17,6	−16,2%
First National Bank	19	14,4	18,7	−1,6%
Nedcor	15	15,7	13,8	−8,0%
Other (including BOE)	12	18,1	16,9	40,8%
Investec	3	5,1	6	100,0%
Foreign	1	4,2	7,7	670,0%
TOP 4	84	72,6	69,4	−17,4%
TOP 5 (plus Investec)	87	77,7	75,4	−13,3%
Share of others and foreign	13	22,3	24,6	89,2%
Total share	100	100	100

Banking sector concentration

Market share in the insurance industry, selected years

Market share of assets	1995	1996	1999	2001
Long‐term (life) insurance
Big three firms	77,6%	76,3%	71,4%	68,3%
Big five firms	88,2%	87,5%	82,1%	83,3%
Short‐term insurance
Big three firms	66,3%	66,7%	46,8%	37,8%
Big five firms	75,1%	74,0%	54,6%	47,1%
Notes: Big three firms = Old Mutual, Sanlam, Momentum Group. Big five firms = Old Mutual, Sanlam, Momentum Group, Liberty Group, Investment Solutions. Source: FSB (various years).

Long‐term insurance industry: market share and number of firms

Value of shares traded and index of the JSE Securities Exchange SA

The HHI for the South African banking sector

Real annual growth of the financial services sector relative to the economy (GDP)

Change in employment in the financial services sector relative to the economy

Bank deregistration and failure

Reasons for deregistration	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Liquidated curatorship	1	1	0	1	2	1	0	1	1
Deregistrations, takeovers, acquisitions, etc.	1	2	4	6	4	1	7	9	14
Total	2	3	4	7	6	2	7	10	15
Source: SARB (various years).

Consumer perceptions regarding the advantages of banks

Perceived advantages of banking money
	% of respondents agreeing
	Fully banked^1	Partially banked	Unbanked
‘In a bank, my money cannot be stolen’	84%	85%	83%
‘Banks are not always a safe place’	42%	45%	44%
Note: ^1Implies that the respondent has access to some high‐level product such as a credit card or a current account with an overdraft. Source: Finmark Trust (2003a).

Cost‐to‐income ratios of the banking sector

Applications for finance by entrepreneurs

% of entrepreneurs	Applying for finance	Successful applications	Accepted offer of finance	% of total sample that received Finance
Bank loan	84,4	25,0	85,2	18,0
Bank overdraft	18,8	62,5	76,7	9,0
Bank credit card	2,3	83,3	60,0	1,2
Microlender	3,1	0	–	0
Stokvel	1,2	33,3	100,0	0,4
Mortgage	0,8	100,0	100,0	0,8
Venture capital	0,4	0	–	0
Average	–	33,2	82,4	27,3
Source: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2002).

Percentage of population with access to financial services

All LSM groups	ATM card	Cheque account	Credit card	Loan	Savings account
1995	22,8%	9,1%	5,3%	3,2%	38,2%
1996	24,9%	9,6%	5,5%	3,2%	37,7%
1997	25,7%	9,4%	5,3%	2,3%	35,8%
1998	25,5%	9,0%	5,1%	3,0%	38,5%
1999	31,8%	8,9%	5,2%	3,0%	37,0%
Average	26,1%	9,2%	5,3%	2,9%	37,4%
Note: LSM = Living Standard Measure. Source: SAARF (2000).

Access to financial services, 2001/2

	Fully banked	Partially banked	Unbanked
Definition	Access to high‐end products	Access to saving accounts, burial society, etc.	No accounts
Number of adults	2,6 million	4,5 million	4,5 million
Percentage of population	22%	37%	37%^1
Note: 14 per cent not categorised. Source: Finmark Trust (2003a).

Surrenders and lapses of insurance life policies¹

%	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	Average
Surrenders
Number of policies	16,7	17,6	16,8	19	26,9	25,1	25,2	16,4	24,9	21,0
Annual premiums	9,7	11,8	12	15,2	16,6	17,2	24,3	21,5	24,8	17,0
Lapses
Number of policies	29,3	28,63	25,9	25,5	31,6	30,9	28,8	16,9	29,3	27,4
Annual premiums	16,9	16,3	16,3	19,6	23,6	22,6	25,3	21,3	22,3	20,5
Note: ^1Excludes pension fund and group life business. Source: FSB (2002).

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