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About

An independent credit boutique for Africa.

We sit outside the rating agencies. We are not paid by the banks we analyse, and our work is written for the lenders, investors and counterparties who carry the risk.

Our story

Built to close a gap we lived with for years.

Throughout our careers at rating agencies, banks and central banks, finding comprehensive, independent and up-to-date information on African banks was a constant problem. Rating coverage stops at the largest institutions, and financial statements are scattered across hundreds of websites, formats and currencies.

The Africa Analyst was set up to fix that. We have built a database of 398 banks across 39countries, captured to a single template, and we turn it into tiered credit reports at a price point the agencies cannot match. Banks come first; insurers and other sectors will follow.

We call ourselves a credit boutique: an independent house doing rating-agency quality analysis, without the issuer-pays model and without the gaps in coverage.

Leadership

Who's behind the analysis

Paul Greeff

Founder and Head of Business Development

Paul spent more than 25 years in senior roles covering financial institutions across Africa. Before founding The Africa Analyst he was a bank analyst and business development director at GCR Ratings, the leading African rating agency, where he started and ran GCR Analytics. GCR Analytics built a database of more than 400 African banks and produced credit reports for Afreximbank.

Paul holds an MBA from Wits Business School and a BSc from the University of Cape Town.

Jennifer Mwerenga

Head of Analytics

Jennifer has more than 15 years of credit analysis experience covering financial institutions across Africa, most recently as a senior analyst at GCR Ratings. She began her career in the bank supervision department of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, working on risk-based supervision, consolidated supervision, onsite and off-site examination and licensing. She leads our remote team of analysts who source, capture and maintain the database.

Jennifer holds an MPhil in Development Finance from Stellenbosch University and a BCom in Accounting, and is a Chartered Management Accountant.

Principles

How we work

Reader-paid, not issuer-paid

Our revenue comes from the people who use our analysis, so our opinions answer to them.

Source-first

Every number traces back to audited statements and regulator data, captured once and checked.

Clear about limits

Our reports are credit analysis and opinion. They are not credit ratings and not investment advice.