If there is one positive to be found as banks, and economies across the board, enter a period of unprecedented turbulence, it is that years of post-global financial crisis reform have delivered a banking system that is safer, better capitalised and should be more resilient in the face of economic disruption. In the current circumstances, the regulatory requirements introduced in the wake of the 2007-08 crisis – which at times seemed onerous – may prove their worth.
The aggregate level of Tier 1 capital held by the world’s 1000 largest banks stood at $8796bn at the end of 2019 (the review year that the Top 1000 World Banks ranking is based on), the highest it has ever been. This marks a 6.08% year-on-year increase from the 2019 rankings, and an 79.64% increase from the aggregate total in 2010. The aggregate Tier 1 capital-to-assets ratio for the Top 1000 also reached its highest ever level at 6.87% – this ratio has steadily increased over the past 10 years from 5.14% in 2010.
