Fitch affirms Standard Bank at ‘BB’; outlook stable

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Standard Bank Group Limited’s (SBG), the parent company of Stanbic Bank Ghana and the Standard Bank of South Africa Limited’s (SBSA) Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at ‘BB’. The UK-based firm also affirmed SBG’s and SBSA’s Viability Ratings (VR) at ‘bb’ and National Long-Term Ratings at ‘AAA (zaf)’. The outlooks on the Long-Term IDRs and National Long-Term Ratings were also stable.

According to Fitch, the Long-Term IDRs of SBG and its main operating subsidiary, SBSA, are driven by their standalone creditworthiness, as expressed by their ‘bb’ VRs. “The VRs reflect a leading domestic and regional franchise, strong revenue diversification and profitability metrics, good capital buffers and a stable funding profile. The VRs are constrained by the concentration of the issuers’ operations in South Africa and high sovereign-related exposure relative to capital (276% of SBSA’s equity at half-year 2026).

The National Ratings are the highest attainable on South Africa’s National Rating scale and reflect SBG’s creditworthiness in local currency relative to that of other South African issuers. The National Ratings are in line with those of all other rated banks in the country. Leading Domestic Franchise SBG has a leading domestic franchise through SBSA, which accounted for 25% of South African banking system assets at the end of the first half of 2026.

SBG also has a leading sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) franchise, with operations spanning 20 other SSA countries (19% of consolidated assets at the end of half-year 2026). Fitch pointed out that revenue is diverse by income stream and geography. Sub-Saharan Africa operations excluding South Africa contributed 40% of SBG’s headline earnings in six months of 2026.