The need for a multilateral bail out of eurozone member Slovenia will depend on the state of its troubled banking sector, which lost a significant proportion of its capital in 2011.

Taken as a single entity, Germany's savings bank sector is the second largest financial institution in the country. And, unlike the country's top 10 banks, it has been growing since 2008.

Hong Kong was the most attractive international financial centre in Asia-Pacific in 2012, with more than $6bn-worth of foreign investment in the special administrative region.

Three Singaporean lenders occupy the top three spots in The Banker's Association of South-east Asian Nations banks ranking by Tier 1 capital for the year ending 2011, and the same three institutions also led the way in terms of pre-tax profits.

A number of foreign banks scaled back operations in Russia after the financial crisis, but those that remain are generating very high returns in many cases.

The Cypriot banking sector was more than four times the size of the country's economy at the end of 2011.

Panama's banks hold their lead as the biggest banks by Tier 1 capital in Central America.

In the years following its 2009 banking crisis, Nigeria's banks' pre-tax profits lagged in the African rankings, but figures from 2012 are expected to show a recovery.

European banks have been under pressure to deleverage to comply with new capital regulations and absorb losses. But many have reduced the risk in their balance sheet, rather than shrinking total assets.

Hong Kong is the world's leading international finance centre in terms of total foreign-owned banking assets.