Top 1000 World Banks - North American banks' profits surge as Asian lenders stumble

North American banks witnessed a surge in profit growth in 2018, boosting their share of global profitability in The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks ranking for 2019. US lenders were the engine of growth for both the region and the global banking sector as a whole during the review period, with both western and eastern European institutions also experiencing healthy increases in profitability.

Net income for banks across all regions rose to $901bn in 2018, an 11.7% rise on 2017 figures. US profits rose 57.9% during the year, prompting a 27% increase in profitability for North America as a whole. As a result, the region’s share of global profitability have risen to 27% in the 2019 ranking, from 20.5% in the 2018 ranking.

This gain comes at the expense of Asia-Pacific, whose overall profitability slipped due to losses among lenders in the region’s three largest markets of China, Japan and Australia. While it continues to lead the regional profit generation table, Asia-Pacific's share fell to 43.38% in the 2019 rankings from 41.74%.

Western Europe remains the third most profitable global region, with gains by UK and Swiss banks more than compensating for contracting profits at Italian, German and Dutch lenders. The region’s share of global profits slips to 18.6% from 20.25% last year.

Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East have experienced similarly small dips in global profitability share, even as lenders in both regions saw overall incomes rise slightly in 2018.

Aside from North America, central and eastern Europe is the only region to increase its global profitability share in the 2019 rankings, to 2.7% from 1.9% in the 2018 ranking, thanks to a 78.9% increase in the net profits of Russian lenders.

Moscow-based Tinkoff Bank comes in in second position in the Top 25 banks by return on capital (ROC) with 46.4%, behind Banco de Fomento Angola, which recorded an ROC of 93.5%. The list is dominated by smaller institutions, and contains just two banks – American Express of the US (88th) and Mexico’s Grupo Financiero Banorte (215th) – in the top 300 of the Top 1000 World Banks ranking by Tier 1 capital.  

Africa contributes seven banks to the top 25 by ROC, from the continent’s key growth markets of Angola (three), Nigeria (two) and Egypt (two). There are six lenders from Latin America and the Caribbean, led by Argentina’s Banco Macro with an ROC of 32%. Columbia and Peru each contribute two banks to the list, alongside Mexico’s Grupo Financiero Banorte.

Top 25 by Return on Capital (%)