The financial crisis seems to have encouraged the continuous growth of Asian banks and the declining presence of US and EU lenders, creating a gap between the new and the established banking regions. Asia, excluding Japan, is represented by 193 banks in the world ranking, nine more than last year and 19 more than two years ago. Banks from the 'Rest of the World' category also showed up in higher numbers, making a particularly big jump from last year. There were 33 two years ago, 36 last year and 49 in this year's ranking. Although relatively small in absolute terms, their increased presence is indicative of the growing influence of developing economies and their financial institutions in the listing.
The world's top lenders have strengthened their Tier 1 ratio, which grew to 4.43% this year from 4.32% last year, the lowest in nearly a decade. Unsurprisingly, their profitability has continued its downward trend. Pre-tax profits on assets dipped to 0.12%, from 0.87% last year, and pre-tax profits on Tier 1 capital plummeted to 2.69%, from 20.02% in the previous listing. Both ratios are by far the lowest for the past decade.
Tier 1 capital: assets (%)
Where they come from - 2008 (2007)
Banks' profit ratios (%)
Total Tier 1 capital ($ billions)
Total pre-tax profits ($ billions)
Total assets ($ trillions)
Pre-tax-profit: Tier 1 capital (%)
