Companies / Financial Services This is why South African banks have won a global award for strength Lafferty says in back-testing its research model through the financial crisis, it found that there was no relationship between sovereign credit ratings and bank quality BL PREMIUM

South African banks held onto their status as the most sound in the world for a second year, according to a global benchmark, despite a downgrade in their credit ratings in line with the sovereign. A decision by ratings agencies to downgrade banks in line with SA’s credit profile was not a reflection of the fiscal soundness of banks, according to Lafferty’s 2017 Global Bank Quality benchmarking study issued on Monday. The study was in line with the World Economic Forum’s latest competitiveness report, which ranked SA’s banks as the second most sound in the world, behind Finland.