Top 1000 World Banks - Western Europe bounces back as global soundness continues to improve
As global soundness measures show improvements across the globe, western Europe's return to health is particularly notable, as Joy Macknight reports.
After seeing contractions across all capital adequacy indicators in 2017’s soundness rankings, western European banks’ performance has seen a strong recovery this year. The region has posted a 15.1% increase in average Tier 1 capital and a 10.2% increase in total assets. This is especially good news for the global banking industry, as western Europe holds the largest amount of Tier 1 capital across the world.
However, despite the region’s average capital assets ratio (CAR) increasing from 5.26% to 5.49%, western European banks still lag their North American and Chinese counterparts, which have an average CAR of 7.97% and 7.09%, respectively.
The Top 1000 world banks have seen an overall strengthening in capital adequacy. Globally, the average Tier 1 capital has risen by 11.7% year on year, while total assets have increased by almost 9%. Aggregate CAR has also increased, from 6.5% to 6.66%.
The main driver of growth remains China, with an aggregate Tier 1 capital increase of 19.7%, and a 14.4% rise in total assets. North American banks, on the other hand, have underperformed, posting a 1.7% rise in Tier 1 capital and a 4.7% growth in total assets. Latin America and the Caribbean is the only region that saw a contraction in both aggregate Tier 1 capital (-19.5%) and total assets (-27.5%) year on year.
For the past three years running, Bahrain’s First Energy Bank has finished at the top of the CAR ranking. In this year's ranking its ratio is 73.15%, an increase from 60.3%. It is also the second year in a row that it is the sole bank with a CAR above 50%. In addition, after dropping out of the Bank of International Settlements’ capital ratio table in the 2017 ranking, it made it into the top five this year, with a ratio of 54%.
Aggregate indicators by region (%)
World Region | Tier 1 capital | Total assets | Capital assets ratio (%) |
Middle East | 332,428 | 2,842,284 | 11.70 |
Central and Eastern Europe | 153,811 | 1,414,715 | 10.87 |
Africa | 75,741 | 941,438 | 8.05 |
North America | 1,616,448 | 20,279,268 | 7.97 |
Latin America and Caribbean | 194,758 | 2,595,249 | 7.50 |
China | 2,056,876 | 29,019,270 | 7.09 |
Asia-pacific (ex CHINA/Japan) | 909,192 | 12,840,696 | 7.08 |
Europe | 2,209,696 | 40,235,697 | 5.49 |
Japan | 685,853 | 13,484,634 | 5.09 |
Total | 8,234,801 | 123,653,252 | 6.66 |
Top 25 by capital to assets ratio
Rank | World Rank | Bank Name | Country | CAR (% latest) |
1 | 872 | First Energy Bank | Bahrain | 73.15 |
2 | 607 | United National Corporation | US | 49.30 |
3 | 778 | Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay (BHU) | Uruguay | 44.92 |
4 | 980 | Banco Compartamos | Mexico | 35.88 |
5 | 382 | Beal Bank | US | 35.47 |
6 | 610 | GFH Financial Group | Bahrain | 32.79 |
7 | 684 | National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain | United Arab Emirates | 29.29 |
8 | 987 | Briscoe Ranch | US | 28.38 |
9 | 892 | African Bank | South Africa | 26.29 |
10 | 231 | Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego | Poland | 25.38 |
11 | 760 | Export Import Bank of the Republic of China | Taiwan | 24.01 |
12 | 967 | Banco Finantia | Portugal | 21.32 |
13 | 929 | Export Import Bank of Thailand | Thailand | 21.18 |
14 | 739 | Tinkoff Bank | Russia | 20.76 |
15 | 579 | Capitec Bank Holdings | South Africa | 20.58 |
16 | 703 | Al Masraf | United Arab Emirates | 20.58 |
17 | 419 | Landsbankinn | Iceland | 20.37 |
18 | 124 | Samba Financial Group | Saudi Arabia | 19.60 |
19 | 668 | New York Private Bank & Trust Corporation | US | 19.07 |
20 | 403 | Bank Danamon Indonesia | Indonesia | 18.71 |
21 | 296 | Banco Inbursa | Mexico | 18.40 |
22 | 518 | Seven Bank | Japan | 18.26 |
23 | 450 | Banco Macro | Argentina | 18.15 |
24 | 788 | Kearny Bank | US | 18.02 |
25 | 670 | Siemens Bank | Germany | 17.94 |
Top 25 by BIS capital ratio
Rank | World Rank | Bank Name | Country | BIS capital ratio % |
1 | 987 | Briscoe Ranch | US | 106.91 |
2 | 415 | Nederlandse Waterschapsbank | Netherlands | 72.50 |
3 | 607 | United National Corporation | US | 65.35 |
4 | 778 | Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay (BHU) | Uruguay | 56.74 |
5 | 872 | First Energy Bank | Bahrain | 54.00 |
6 | 478 | Nexi | Italy | 51.72 |
7 | 819 | First Citizens Bank | Trinidad and Tobago | 48.28 |
8 | 385 | Coventry Building Society | UK | 45.90 |
9 | 869 | Landshypotek Bank | Sweden | 43.80 |
10 | 382 | Beal Bank | US | 42.02 |
11 | 231 | Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego | Poland | 37.95 |
12 | 238 | Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten | Netherlands | 37.00 |
13 | 119 | Nationwide Building Society | UK | 36.90 |
14 | 980 | Banco Compartamos | Mexico | 36.85 |
15 | 676 | National Bank of Bahrain | Bahrain | 36.30 |
16 | 760 | Export Import Bank of the Republic of China | Taiwan | 36.25 |
17 | 892 | African Bank | South Africa | 36.17 |
18 | 579 | Capitec Bank Holdings | South Africa | 35.70 |
19 | 283 | SNS Bank | Netherlands | 35.70 |
20 | 588 | Cagamas Berhad | Malaysia | 35.10 |
21 | 684 | National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain | United Arab Emirates | 34.61 |
22 | 505 | Skipton Building Society | UK | 34.30 |
23 | 265 | Banco de la Nacion Argentina | Argentina | 33.56 |
24 | 671 | Daiwa Next Bank | Japan | 32.36 |
25 | 558 | Lansforsakringar Bank | Sweden | 32.10 |