None of the 22 commercial banks operating in Nigeria is among the top 280 international banks in the world, a new study by the United Kingdom-based The Banker magazine, has indicated.

The ‘2013 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking’, an annual report by The Banker magazine of the Financial Times Group, London, also shows that only 13 of the 22 banks in Nigeria made it to the top 600 in the world in terms of size.

 The 13 banks include Zenith Bank Plc, First Bank Nigeria Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Ecobank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc.

Others are Skye Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc , Stanbic IBTC, Union Bank Plc  and Standard Chartered Bank.

Zenith Bank was  ranked number one in Nigeria among top 1,000 world banks.

According to the report, Zenith Bank moved 35 places from 322 in the world last year to 287; First Bank moved from 338 to 367, Guaranty Bank moved to 417 from 455; Access Bank moved to 506 from 541; and UBA moved to 553 from 563.

According to a statement from the Country Representative, Nigeria, The Banker, Mr. Kunle Ogedengbe, the ranking this year saw the return of Union Bank to the league of top global banks.

Ogedengbe stressed that the ranking was usually based on the definition of Tier–1 Capital as set out by Basel’s Bank for International Settlements and that it aimed to show global international banks’ soundness in relation to the Basel guidelines on capital adequacy.

The percentage change in the Tier-1 Capital, which underlines the strength of banks, for Zenith Bank increased by 23.82, the highest among the Nigerian banks that made the ranking.

In the capital asset ratio of soundness parameter, Zenith Bank came top at 17.70 per cent, followed by Guaranty Trust Bank at 16.23 per cent.

Third is Fidelity Bank at 15.67 per cent; Standard Chartered Nigeria is fourth at 13.38 per cent, followed by FCMB at 12.00 per cent and First Bank at 11.96 per cent.

Access Bank  is rated at 11.60 per cent; Stanbic IBTC, 11.55 per cent, Ecobank, 11.14 per cent; Skye Bank, 9.90 per cent; UBA, 7.65 per cent; Diamond Bank, 7.31 per cent; and Union Bank, 6.35 per cent.

Ogedengbe quoted analysts as saying that the ranking was a good sign of the improvement of the soundness of the Nigerian banks among the global banks and the robust monetary policies of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Source: Punch (by Oyetunji Abioye)