China has been marching up The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks ranking and now a bank from the country has finally reached the top spot. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) is the world’s number one bank in terms of Tier 1 capital, which rose 14.72% to $160.65bn in 2012.
This top ranking represents the culmination of a steady climb by ICBC. In The Banker's 2010 Top 1000 ranking, ICBC was seventh, and in 2011 it edged up to sixth. Last year ICBC finished in third place, knocking HSBC from third to fourth place in the process. Now ICBC has overtaken JPMorgan Chase, which held second place from last year, and has swapped places with Bank of America, which is now third in the global rankings.
The big four Chinese banks – ICBC, China Construction Bank (CCB), Bank of China (BoC) and Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) – remain at the top of the Chinese rankings and they are all among the world’s top 10 banks by Tier 1 capital. BoC and ABC have remained in the same global positions that they occupied in the 2012 ranking, of ninth and 10th respectively, while CCB moved up from sixth into fifth place.
In previous years, the presence of China's banks could not be ignored, both in terms of the size and the increase in Tier 1 capital. This year, the country's banks have attained even more of a global status: as well as the four representatives in the top 10, there are five in the top 25, and seven Chinese banks in the top 50.
There is a sizeable difference between the Tier 1 capital of the fourth largest bank in China, ABC, and the fifth largest. ABC’s Tier 1 capital is $111.49bn, while fifth placed Bank of Communications is $57.61bn. Although it has a smaller Tier 1 capital ratio when compared to the big four banks in China, Bank of Communications scored well among the country's highest movers. It ranks eighth in the country by this measure, with a Tier 1 capital increase of 37.78%. In the Top 1000 overall rankings, Bank of Communications ranks 23rd.
This year’s highest movers from China showed less dramatic Tier 1 capital increases than in the 2012 rankings. Last year’s highest mover boasted a Tier 1 capital growth of 626.24%, whereas this year’s highest mover in China – Bank of Hebei – registered a more moderate 90.19%. It is followed by Guangxi Beibu Gulf Bank with a 53.82% growth, and Hankou Bank, which had a Tier 1 capital growth of 47.79%.
