Australian banks dominate the Asia-Pacific banking landscape when China and Japan are taken out of the equation. As well as performing strongly in terms of Tier 1 capital, banks form the country also feature prominently in The Banker's top 15 profits table.
The Banker has covered the rankings for China and Japan in previous issues (September 2011 for China and December 2011 for Japan), showing how the growth in China's banking sector has extended beyond the ‘big four’ to the smaller banks in towns and cities outside Beijing and Shanghai. Meanwhile, the top 100 ranking for Japanese banks showed how the Asian growth story has evaded the country's financial services providers in recent years, with unremarkable increases in profitability and returns being recorded almost across the board.