Four of the five banks in the Middle East's top banks by return on capital (ROC) are from Iran, as was the case in last year's ranking. This trend can be explained by the relatively low capital base of most of the country's banks, which makes high ROC levels more achievable for these lenders.
Parsian Bank leads the list for the second consecutive year with ROC of 42.26%, a small decrease from the 41.95% it posted last year. Karafarin Bank follows behind in second place, with ROC of 33.63%, which is very close to the 33.93% it recorded a year previous, which put it in fourth position in the 2013 rankings. Bank Eghtesad Novin occupies third place, its 33.31% ROC is down on the 37.74% it recorded in the 2013 ranking.
Bank Pasargad, the only Iran-based lender in the regional top 25 by Tier 1, is fifth in the ROC ranking, posting 29.49% ROC. While Qatar-based Qatar National Bank is the only name from outside of Iran in the Middle East ROC ranking, it places fourth with 33.14% ROC.
Philip Alexander reports on the full results of The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks ranking 2014 in Top 1000 World Banks 2014: Back on track? and James King reports on the performance of the Middle East's banks in Gulf banks lead the Middle East's charge.
