The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has signalled a more stringent regulatory approach toward lenders following the completion of a broad recapitalisation programme, as it seeks to strengthen governance, rebuild investor confidence and protect financial stability. Governor Olayemi Cardoso confirmed that the central bank’s priority is shifting from capital raising to enforcing discipline at the board and senior-management levels, characterising the recapitalisation effort as a strategic necessity rather than a routine regulatory exercise aimed at enhancing resilience and enabling banks to support long-term economic growth.
However, he stressed that stronger capital positions must now be matched by tighter governance standards. “The role of directors becomes even more critical in this new phase,” he said, adding that stewardship must now focus more sharply on consolidation, confidence and system stability.
These comments reflect a broader shift by the central bank toward more rigorous oversight following a period marked by governance failures and regulatory interventions. In January 2024, the central bank removed the boards and executives of three banks for serious regulatory breaches, signalling a willingness to intervene decisively when governance failures pose risks to the system.
This approach has since been reinforced through a series of new rules targeting board conduct and accountability. These include a requirement that systemically important banks obtain regulatory approval for incoming chief executives at least six months before a transition and announce successors three months in advance—measures intended to avoid leadership gaps.
Ghana’s banking sector is showing signs of renewed momentum, with total industry assets reaching GHC 465.4 billion as of February 2026, according to the latest “Monetary Policy Report” from the Bank of Ghana (BoG). The report noted that the 21-percent year-on-year increase—although slower than the previous year—pointed to a more stable and sustainable expansion, underpinned by stronger domestic asset growth and improved funding conditions. Overall, the figures suggest the banking system is expanding on more solid foundations, leaving it better placed to support Ghana’s economic recovery.
Domestic assets now make up 93.8 percent of total industry assets, up from 88 percent a year earlier, indicating a greater focus on the local market and reduced exposure to external risks. Investment activity played a major role in the expansion, with total investments rising 57.5 percent to GHC 192.8 billion. Much of this was driven by a sharp increase in short-term instruments, which surged by 130.1 percent as banks capitalised on more attractive yields in the money market.
Deposits continued to anchor the sector, growing 18 percent to GHC 338.5 billion, largely supported by domestic inflows—suggesting improving public confidence in the banking system. The sector’s capital position also strengthened, with shareholders’ funds increasing by 44.1 percent to GHC 60.6 billion, supported by strong earnings and ongoing recapitalisation. Although credit growth has moderated, analysts argue this reflects a more cautious stance by banks focused on maintaining asset quality and managing risk in a stabilising macroeconomic backdrop.
Zimbabwe’s banking sector is stepping up pressure on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), warning that its prolonged tight monetary stance is constraining credit expansion and weighing on broader economic activity. Industry leaders claim the costs are becoming more pronounced. Financial results for the year ending December 31, 2025, show a return to profitability across the sector, with major lenders such as NMB Bank, FBC Bank and CBZ Bank recovering strongly from earlier losses. Analysts caution, however, that this rebound masks underlying structural constraints. Tapiwa Sibanda, head of strategy at Trade Winds, said that while profitability has improved, the sector remains limited by restrictive monetary conditions, pointing to a disconnect between strong earnings and weak lending activity.
Bank executives have reported that tight liquidity is affecting key sectors, particularly retail and manufacturing, with many firms operating below capacity and some entering corporate rescue due to limited access to affordable credit. Industry figures, including Pearson Gowero and James Prince Mutizwa, have flagged growing financial strain in productive sectors, alongside continued difficulty in accessing competitively priced funding both locally and internationally. A central issue is the high-interest-rate environment: The RBZ’s policy rate remains near 35 percent even as inflation has fallen to the low single digits, creating what banks see as a mismatch between macro conditions and borrowing costs.
This imbalance is reflected in the weak uptake of the RBZ’s Targeted Finance Facility (TFF), a ZiG 1.2-billion programme intended to support private-sector lending. More than a year after its launch, utilisation has remained limited. By mid-April 2026, only ZiG 56.9 million had been disbursed, according to RBZ Governor John Mushayavanhu.
The Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has defended this cautious lending stance. Its chief executive, Fanwell Mutogo, said lending depends on viable demand and bankable projects, describing the TFF as a supplementary mechanism rather than a primary funding channel.
According to the latest figures published by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), 12-month growth in loans and advances provided by monetary institutions to the domestic private sector picked up steadily, rising from a low of 3.9 percent in February 2025 to 7.8 percent in both December and January 2026. On an annual average basis, credit growth edged higher from 4.2 percent in 2024 to 5.9 percent in 2025, though it remained below the 7.0 percent recorded in 2023.
Corporate borrowing was the main contributor to credit expansion in 2025, while lending to households began to improve in the final quarter of the year. On a seasonally adjusted and annualised basis, total private-sector credit growth eased slightly from 8.9 percent in the third quarter of 2025 to 8.1 percent in the fourth quarter.
Credit growth to households remained relatively weak throughout 2025, averaging 3.0 percent, compared with 6.4 percent in 2023 and 3.5 percent in 2024. Most categories of household lending slowed in the first half of the year, before recovering in the fourth quarter of 2025 and into January 2026, supported by lower borrowing costs and base effects.
Banks in Kenya are still grappling with elevated levels of bad loans despite a decline in interest rates. Data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) shows that nonperforming loans (NPLs) stood at roughly 15.6 percent in March 2026. Although this marks an improvement from the peak reached in 2025, it remains significantly above the levels seen for most of the past decade, indicating that the system has yet to fully recover.
For many years, Kenya’s financial sector was viewed as one of Africa’s more robust banking systems, underpinned by solid regulation, widespread mobile-money adoption and consistent credit expansion. That trajectory began to shift after 2022, when tighter monetary conditions and fiscal pressures strained borrowers. The initial shock came from higher interest rates in 2024, which led to a rapid increase in borrowing costs. Delays in government payments to contractors and suppliers also created liquidity strains in sectors such as construction, manufacturing and trade. Firms reliant on public-sector contracts struggled to meet their obligations, leading to defaults that fed directly into rising nonperforming loans.
Together, elevated borrowing costs and fiscal strain have weakened banks’ balance sheets across the sector. Major lenders have reported increasing defaults even as lending growth slowed, suggesting that the deterioration in existing loans has outpaced the creation of new credit. To manage the impact, banks have raised provisions against potential losses. While this bolsters financial resilience, it also weighs on profitability and constrains the capacity to extend new lending.
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Holmarcom Group’s agreement to acquire BNP Paribas’s majority stake in BMCI (Banque Marocaine pour le Commerce et l’Industrie), announced on April 29, shifts control of one of Morocco’s leading retail banks to a domestic player, extending a broader trend of French lenders exiting the market. The transaction gives Holmarcom a controlling interest in BMCI and paves the way for a merger with Crédit du Maroc, the former Crédit Agricole subsidiary it acquired in 2022. The combined group would create a third domestic banking force alongside Attijariwafa Bank and Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP), marking the first time since independence that all of Morocco’s systemically important banks are locally owned.
As recently as 2020, French banking giants controlled three of Morocco’s major banks: BNP Paribas through BMCI, Crédit Agricole via Crédit du Maroc and Société Générale through Société Générale Maroc. By 2024, all three had either exited or announced plans to do so—Crédit Agricole sold Crédit du Maroc to Holmarcom in 2022, Société Générale divested its Moroccan operations to Saham Bank, and BNP Paribas agreed to sell its BMCI stake in 2026.
The buyers—Saham, Holmarcom and the institutional shareholders backing Attijariwafa Bank and Banque Centrale Populaire—are domestic groups rooted in insurance, capital markets and agribusiness rather than traditional banking. Local ownership shifts banking priorities toward national economic objectives, including financing for the 2030 FIFA World Cup infrastructure, the development of the automotive and aerospace industries, the Atlantic Initiative for Sahel economies and the expansion of social-protection programmes.
It also lowers exposure to European regulatory constraints, as European banks continue to scale back their presence in African retail markets amid tighter capital rules and strategic retrenchment. For customers, the immediate impact will be operational. Bank Al-Maghrib has indicated that there will be a transition period covering branch consolidation, information-technology (IT) system integration and alignment of products between BMCI and Crédit du Maroc. Changes to fees, deposit terms and digital services will likely be the most visible effects.
The governor of the Bank of Algeria, Mohamed Lamine Lebbou, announced on April 28 that a new directive on the implementation of know-your-customer (KYC) standards would be issued to banks within a week. The move forms part of broader efforts to align the country’s banking system with ongoing changes in financial instruments. The KYC framework is used by banks and financial institutions to verify client identities and monitor activity, helping to ensure transparency, reduce fraud and limit suspicious transactions, while strengthening overall financial-system security.
Speaking during a panel at the second edition of the CEO Survey held at the Abdelatif Rahal International Conference Center in Algiers, Lebbou said the ruling will be mandatory for all banks, adding that it will take into account the specific characteristics of different economic activities, allowing operators—through a simple declaration—to outline their expected incomes and intended uses without undue constraints.
The governor stressed the importance of complying with anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) rules, alongside broader regulatory obligations. He also praised Algérie Poste for its efforts in updating KYC records. On financial inclusion, Lebbou said progress will depend on recognising the nature of economic activities and their operating environments. He highlighted digitalisation as a key tool for drawing liquidity currently circulating outside the formal banking system.
The country’s Monetary and Banking Law (MBL) has also reportedly opened the door to new entrants, including digital banks and payment service providers (PSPs), while several applications are currently being reviewed by the central bank ahead of their formal launches.
Sherif Lokman, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) for Financial Inclusion and Sustainability, recently confirmed that the institution plans to roll out its Financial Inclusion Strategy (2026–2030) by mid-year. The new strategy will focus on increasing the effective use of financial services, creating innovative products tailored to different population segments, strengthening regulatory structures and expanding partnerships at both the domestic and regional levels.
Lokman also pointed to notable progress in Egypt’s banking sector, with the financial-inclusion rate climbing to 77.6 percent, covering nearly 55 million people, and highlighted its contribution to supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and overall economic growth. Moreover, the SME-financing portfolio has reached close to EGP 630 billion, with around half transitioning into large companies, representing roughly EGP 315 billion in funding.
Bank lending to SMEs expanded by 390 percent over the decade from December 2015 to December 2025. Over the last five years, the number of MSMEs (micro, small and medium-sized enterprises) has increased by 71 percent, with micro-enterprises rising by 112 percent, small firms by 85 percent and medium-sized businesses by 36 percent.
Lokman also highlighted the banking sector’s role in advancing sustainable finance, noting that banks are increasingly central to achieving development objectives amid climate-related challenges. He pointed to instruments such as green bonds and sustainability-linked loans as key tools for attracting both domestic and international investments while supporting Egypt’s shift toward a greener economy.
>>>AFRICA AWARD WINNERS
BANKING CEO OF THE YEAR
Africa
Mr. Daniel Asiedu
OmniBSIC Bank (Ghana)
**********
BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE
PROVIDER OF THE YEAR
Africa
Zenith Bank (Nigeria)
**********
Best Banking Group Kenya
I&M Group PLC
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Ecobank Group
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Nedbank CIB
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Banque Internationale pour l’Industrie et le Commerce (BIIC)
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Banco Caboverdiano de Negócios (BCN)
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Société Ivoirienne de Banque (SIB)
Best Commercial Bank Of The Year Democratic Republic of the Congo
Rawbank
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CAC International Bank
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Awash Bank
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Co-operative Bank of Kenya
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BOA Mali
Best Commercial Bank Of The Year Mauritius
Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB)
Best Commercial Bank Of The Year Rwanda
Bank of Kigali
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Standard Bank
Best Commercial Bank Of The Year Tanzania
CRDB Bank
Best Commercial Bank Of The Year Togo
Ecobank
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Zanaco
Sustainable Bank Of The Year Kenya
KCB Bank Kenya
Sustainable Bank Of The Year Nigeria
Zenith Bank
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Central Africa Building Society (CABS)
Best Private Bank Of The Year Mauritius
Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB)
Best Private Bank Of The Year South Africa
Standard Bank
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Banco de Poupança e Crédito (BPC)
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Société Ivoirienne de Banque (SIB)
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Rawbank
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CAC International Bank
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Bank of Abyssinia
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KCB Bank Kenya
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Bank Windhoek
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Capitec Bank
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CRDB Bank
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Indo Zambia Bank (IZB)
Best Innovation In Retail Banking Zimbabwe
CBZ
Mortgage Provider Of The Year Namibia
Bank Windhoek
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Central Africa Building Society (CABS)
>>>NORTH AFRICA AWARD WINNERS
BANKING CEO OF THE YEAR
North Africa
Mr. Mohamed El Kettani
Attijariwafa Bank (Morocco)
**********
BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE
PROVIDER OF THE YEAR
North Africa
Banque Nationale d’Algérie (BNA) (Algeria)
**********
Best Investment Bank Of the Year Morocco
Attijariwafa bank
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Banque Nationale d’Algérie (BNA)
Best Commercial Bank Of the Year Egypt
Arab African International Bank (AAIB)
Best Commercial Bank Of the Year Morocco
Crédit Agricole du Maroc
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Banque de Tunisie
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Banque Extérieure d’Algérie (BEA)
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Groupe BCP (Banque Populaire)
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Banque de Tunisie
Sustainable Bank Of The Year Egypt
Arab African International Bank (AAIB)
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Crédit Agricole du Maroc
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CFG Bank