With four of the world’s 10 strongest banks being headquartered in Beijing, it comes as little surprise that the Chinese financial hub tops the ranking of international financial centres (IFCs) by bank assets looking at the figures taken from 2011.
The aggregate assets of Beijing's banks total $9627.6bn, a figure 21% larger than the same ranking last year. Such substantial growth is explained by the performances of ICBC, China Construction Bank, Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China, which occupy the third, sixth, ninth and 10th places in The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks ranking. In their 2011 financial reports, the four lenders have total asset values of $8136.35bn, a growth of 21.7% from their 2010 financial records.
Beijing has displaced Tokyo from the top position of the banking assets chart. The Japanese capital now sits in second place with an aggregate bank asset value of $8939.57bn. In 21st position, Shanghai is the centre with the most improved asset values, which grew by 24.73% to $1311.17bn in 2011.
London, Paris, New York, Frankfurt and Zurich all occupy the same positions they did last year, in third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh place, respectively. London has a total of $7105.23bn in aggregate assets, one-third of which comes from HSBC, the largest bank headquartered in the UK capital.
Although only recording marginal growth, São Paulo is the only new entrant in the ranking, having moved to 25th place from last year’s 27th. The Brazilian city holds a total of $882.94m in bank assets.
A number of financial centres appear in the IFC ranking thanks only to the presence of one large institution. Royal Bank of Scotland is the only lender in The Banker's Top 1000 ranking to be based in Edinburgh, which gives the Scottish centre 10th position in the table. Similarly, Bourges makes the list thanks to Crédit Agricole, which bases its operations in the central French town. Crédit Agricole's expansion over the past year has seen it rise to 13th place in The Banker's Top 1000 ranking, up from 15th, but this was not enough to move Bourges up the IFC ranking, where it remains in eighth position.
Another IFC linked to one bank only is Charlotte, North Carolina, where Bank of America is based. The US lender closed 2011 with $2136.58bn in assets and the world’s highest value of Tier 1 capital: $159.23bn.
