How did SA’s major banks fare in an unprecedented crisis?

Against unprecedented levels of market turbulence and operating uncertainty, PwC’s Major Banks Analysis highlights key themes from the combined local currency results of Absa, FirstRand, Nedbank and Standard Bank. include:

• The major banks entered the crisis with resilient balance sheets, sound capital and liquidity levels and strong franchises. These foundations helped anchor the course as they swiftly turned attention to ensuring the safety of their workforces, maintaining cost discipline, operational and balance sheet resilience, and providing colleague, community and customer support.
• Driven by heightened customer risks and depressed economic outlooks across loan product classes, industry sectors and geographies, credit provisioning levels soared against expectations for rising volumes of distressed and non-performing loans. Sharply increased credit impairment charges translated into deep contractions in headline earnings and depressed ROEs. Although subject to significant estimation uncertainty, PwC’s research…