While Chinese banks continued to dominate The Banker's Asian ranking in terms of number and profits, Australia also put in a standout performance, recording the second highest Tier 1 capital despite only accounting for a small proportion of the region's banks. Writer Michelle Price
It has become something of a cliché that China's banks are the biggest and beefiest in the Asia-Pacific region, and The Banker's Top 200 Asian banks ranking for 2009 does little to dispel this perception.
Chinese banks continue to dominate the ranking, both in number and in terms of capital, accounting for a chunky 44.89% of total Tier 1 capital and for 27% of the ranking by number of banks, with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank holding onto the top three positions, respectively, for the fourth year in a row. Chinese banks also hold five of the top 10 spots in the 2010 ranking for the second year running.
However, as Chinese banks continue to consolidate their position near the top, they have necessarily become less upwardly mobile, according to the 2010 ranking: in a striking trend, China's command of the top movers list has this year been overthrown by India, which holds a whopping eight of the 10 top mover positions, with banks jumping an average of 18.5 places.
Against the odds
The aggregate Tier 1 capital figures are also very revealing. Filipino, Thai, Indonesian and Australian banks each accounted for 4% of the top 200 Asians by number. But, as a positive sign that underlines the strength of the increasingly consolidated Australian banking sector, Australian banks account for a disproportionate amount of the top 200 aggregate Tier 1 capital, which at 12.73% is the second highest country-based aggregate in this year's ranking after that of China. Australia also makes up the remaining two places in the top 10 highest movers chart, with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank taking the number four spot.
Despite the global financial crisis, or indeed because of it, Asia's Top 200 banks as a group have grown increasingly robust during the past three years: The Banker's data for 2007 shows the top 200 Asian total aggregate Tier 1 capital to be $655.6bn against $12,209bn of assets, versus $794.41bn against $14,452.82bn for the 2010 ranking, representing both an absolute growth in Tier 1 capital and a marginal increase in the Tier 1 capital-to-assets ratio.
Top movers 2007-08
Top Movers 2008-09
Where they come from
Tier 1 capital (%) 2009 - Total Tier 1 capital =$ 794.41bn
Total assets ($bn) 2009 - Total Assets = $14452.82bn
