Big Five lose ground in banking sector

Lack of commercial banking sector competitiveness has long been a thorn in the side for regulators, as the dominance of a group of established players has meant market access issues for new entrants and the potential for ‘cartel’ type behaviour in costs of services and products.

First National Bank, Barclays, Standard Chartered and Stanbic have traditionally dominated the country’s banking sector in terms of balance sheets and numbers of customers, although in recent years, BancABC also joined their ranks.