Chinese banks ICBC and China Construction Bank top the world ranking, with two more Chinese banks in the top ten. Chinese banks now account for a third of total world banking profits, outstripping the USA (20% of profits) and contributing to the largest ever annual profits for the global banking sector of $920 billion – 23% higher than the previous year.
Struggling Eurozone banks contributed a meagre 3% overall to global profits, down from 25% before the 2008 crisis, as recovery remains slow or non-existent in many countries. Italian banks lost $35bn, topping the list of national losses while Portuguese and Irish banks also continued to suffer, losing almost $4bn each. Spanish banks did at least manage to turn last year's catastrophic losses of $68bn into a profit of $12bn.
