Capitec won world honours in 2017

Capitec - which is under scrutiny after being denounced as a loan shark by Viceroy Research‚ the company that first flagged irregularities at Steinhoff - was rated the best bank globally in June 2017‚ receiving a five-star rating from an international benchmark study.

The Lafferty’s 2017 Global Bank Quality study was in line with the World Economic Forum’s competitiveness report‚ which ranked South Africa’s banks as the second most sound in the world‚ behind Finland.

Global banks were increasingly looking for managerial solutions and expertise from within SA‚ Business Day quoted Lafferty chairman Michael Lafferty as saying.

After Capitec‚ Barclay’s Africa received a four-star rating‚ with FirstRand‚ Nedbank‚ Absa and Standard Bank receiving three stars.

The study‚ which is based on an assertion that traditional methods of assessing bank strength are inadequate‚ ranked 100 large‚ listed banks in 32 countries for long-term stability and quality of service in corporate and retail banking. The survey was largely aimed at banks themselves‚ rather than consumers or investors‚ enabling a benchmarking of bank management‚ Lafferty said.

Capitec says it will respond to the allegations by Viceroy once it has had a chance to study the allegations.