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Blog : 17 October 2016 (Interesting numbers with regards to South Africa's banking sector)
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We take a look at some of South Africa's banking sector numbers and compare it to various countries around the world..
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Are South African's well banked?
Reasons for the countries selected above. The BRICS nations are included. Also included is the biggest and second biggest economies in Africa (Nigeria and Egypt respectively), an emerging market outside of BRICS (being Turkey). And Australia was added as South African's are super competitive and we want to beat the Aussies at everything. Macao was added purely for interest sake and the fact that it has a disproportionately high number of ATM's per 100 000 adults (but there is a reason for that). Note the same countries will not be selected for each graph as information is not always available for all countries.
The graphic above shows that Macao (a well known gambling region under Chinese control) has the largest number of ATM's per 100 000 adults. No real surprise there as people need to constantly draw money to get more money to gamble as they keep losing money to the house. Gambling in Macao is directly and indirectly responisble for almost 75% of Macao's total economic activity. Excluding gambling regions such as Macao, Russia and Australia have a large number of ATM's per 100 000 adults.
South Africa is in the middle of the pack, as it does not have the highest concentration of ATM's per 100 000 adults, but it certainly has way more ATM's per 100 000 adults than Nigeria, India, Egypt and is very close to mainland China. But it has to be said all of these countries have far larger populations than South Africa and it is therefore not unexpected that the number of ATM's per 100 000 adults are less in these countries. Egypt has a population of around 90million, Nigeria around 180million people, and China and India both over 1billion people.
The graphic above shows that Macao (a well known gambling region under Chinese control) has the largest number of ATM's per 100 000 adults. No real surprise there as people need to constantly draw money to get more money to gamble as they keep losing money to the house. Gambling in Macao is directly and indirectly responisble for almost 75% of Macao's total economic activity. Excluding gambling regions such as Macao, Russia and Australia have a large number of ATM's per 100 000 adults.
South Africa is in the middle of the pack, as it does not have the highest concentration of ATM's per 100 000 adults, but it certainly has way more ATM's per 100 000 adults than Nigeria, India, Egypt and is very close to mainland China. But it has to be said all of these countries have far larger populations than South Africa and it is therefore not unexpected that the number of ATM's per 100 000 adults are less in these countries. Egypt has a population of around 90million, Nigeria around 180million people, and China and India both over 1billion people.
While ATM's certainly shows ease of access to cash withdrawal services, the question then becomes how well other banking services are covered? Most banking services takes place at a bank branch. The graphic below shows the number of bank branches per 100 000 adults in the same countries as the graphic above. Again Macao has the highest number of branches per 100 000 adults.
As with the ATM's Macao shows a high concentration of bank branches per 100 000 adults, with Russia and Australia in hot pursuit. Macao's number of bank branches does not seem to be as high when compared to their ATM's per 100 000 adults for example. India's number of branches looks a whole lot better when compared to their number of ATM's per 100 000 adults. Seems a more traditional style of banking taking place in India where people go to branches to withdraw money and not to ATM's.
South Africa is sitting in the middle of the pack again. While it certainly seems better off in terms of number of ATM's per 100 000 adults than it's African peers, it is lagging behind most of it's BRICS partners and comparable emerging market, Turkey. It therefore looks like South Africa is well banked, when compared to its African peers, but a little less so when compared to their BRICS partners and other markets such as Australia and Turkey.
With a drive to more branchless banking and using technology to do banking one wonders what these numbers will look like in 5 to 10 years from now, as banks will look to cut costs by making online banking services more readily available to the masses and cut overhead costs at branches. But in saying that, the fastest growing bank in South Africa, Capitec still seems intent on opening numerous new branches as it powers ahead and keeps gaining market share in the industry.
South Africa is sitting in the middle of the pack again. While it certainly seems better off in terms of number of ATM's per 100 000 adults than it's African peers, it is lagging behind most of it's BRICS partners and comparable emerging market, Turkey. It therefore looks like South Africa is well banked, when compared to its African peers, but a little less so when compared to their BRICS partners and other markets such as Australia and Turkey.
With a drive to more branchless banking and using technology to do banking one wonders what these numbers will look like in 5 to 10 years from now, as banks will look to cut costs by making online banking services more readily available to the masses and cut overhead costs at branches. But in saying that, the fastest growing bank in South Africa, Capitec still seems intent on opening numerous new branches as it powers ahead and keeps gaining market share in the industry.