This is according to the Lafferty Group's 2017 Global Bank Quality Benchmarking Study. It ranks 100 major quoted banks across 32 countries for their longer-term sustainability and gives its highest ratings to banks that focus on serving their clients' needs in retail and corporate banking.

It found that South Africa's banks achieved the highest rankings for the second year in a row. The Lafferty Group's ratings are based on information available in the public domain, such as each bank's business model, assessed in terms of factors such as strategy, culture and management.

Capitec was awarded Lafferty Group's highest five-star rating; Absa achieved four stars; and FirstRand, Standard and Nedbank were given three stars.

"Capitec is a remarkable bank in that it is the only bank anywhere in the world among those we have rated that qualifies for a five-star rating," Lafferty group CEO, Michael Lafferty, told Fin24.

"It has very high financial ratios and also scores very high in qualitative criteria like strategy, culture, customer satisfaction, management experience and living the brand. Most of all it is a highly focused bank."

Lafferty explained that being focused was something that other banks could also leverage in order to climb up the rankings.

"Unlike the big universal banks of Europe and the United States – that seem to want to do everything and usually fail to do anything particularly well – Capitec has its eye on the emerging South African consumer and knows how to serve them well."

Capitec Bank CEO, Gerrie Fourie, said in a statement that the bank's rating confirmed it was on the right track to build the best retail bank in the world.

"We value this recognition because it's based on information available in the public domain and represents an objective view of our company, while validating the trust that our clients put in the Capitec brand." – Source: www.fin24.co.za