Standard Bank Group, Africa's largest bank by assets, derives a significant share of its earnings outside its home market of South Africa. The group's Africa Regions operations, which include 20 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, contributed about 40% of total headline earnings in 2025. Across the group, the South African business generated earnings of 24.9bn rand ($1.5bn) last year, while the Africa Regions delivered 19.7bn rand.
In East Africa, where the bank trades under the Stanbic brand, growth has accelerated significantly in recent years, with key markets like Tanzania posting record profits in 2025.
Stanbic Bank Tanzania's profit after tax climbed to 135bn Tanzanian shillings ($51.2m), up from 128bn shillings the previous year. The bank's balance sheet also expanded. Total assets rose 15% year on year to 3.5 trillion shillings, customer deposits increased 17% to 2.4 trillion shillings and customer loans surged 28% to 1.8 trillion shillings.
Manzi Rwegasira, chief executive of Stanbic Bank Tanzania, says last year's results point to the country's improving economic fundamentals. "Banking is one of those sectors where you tend to do only as well as your clients. Over the past five years we've seen a strong post‑Covid rebound across key sectors of Tanzania's economy," he tells African Business, citing strong growth in ports, transport and logistics, mining and tourism.
Originally published by African Business.