The transaction banking business continues to grow at a sure and steady pace, despite macroeconomic headwinds.

The headwinds facing the world’s largest investment banks have taken their toll on revenues, productivity, operating margins and headcount. 

Beijing reigns supreme in the ranking of international financial centres by bank data, outstripping main rival New York by some way. Silvia Pavoni reports.

In the past decade, banks in Asia have seen the most aggressive growth in investment banking fees, followed by those in the US. Meanwhile, Europe lags behind, as Kat Van Hoof reports.

Rankings of IFCs by the number of business schools and Internal Baccalaureate establishments put Boston and Chicago at the top. 

Bank consolidation in sub-Saharan Africa is in full swing. Large and stable banks are growing steadily as a result, while many small and inefficient banks are disappearing. 

London leads the way for the issuance of green bonds, trading $5.74bn in the first quarter of 2019, followed by Dublin and Luxembourg. Silvia Pavoni reports.

As western Europe drops from first place in the light of a lower capital adequacy ratio, China improved its soundness by the largest margin. 

United National Corporation of the US tops the return on assets ranking. Regionally, Africa performs well, but Japan and China are stagnant.

Russian bank Otkritie leads the highest movers table, a year after topping the biggest losses table.