For the second year in a row, US bank United National Corporation has landed first place in terms of return on assets (ROA), posting a near-identical performance to the ranking 2018 with a score of 12.6%. The overall runner-up from last year's ranking – Banco Compartamos of Mexico – drops out of the Latin American and Caribbean top five altogether. United National has left its regional peers far behind, with the second placed bank in North America having an ROA almost three times smaller at 3.67%.
In general, most banks saw a drop in ROA compared to the 2018 review period. One standout region, however, is Africa. It finishes above Latin America and the Caribbean to come up behind only North America with the highest ROAs. Banco de Fomento Angola stood in third place in Africa in last year's list, and yet has almost doubled its ROA in the 2019 ranking to 10.23%, compared with 5.27% last time out.
