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 |