The global capital assets ratio average has improved on The Banker's 2015 ranking, with Bahrain's First Energy Bank leading the way.

Risk-weighted assets have jumped in North America as a result of the move among its banks to Basel III. Elsewhere, western Europe also saw an RWA-to-total assets ratio percentage rise.

As was the case in the 2015 ranking, China and the US are producing the fastest growing banks in the world, with the US's LegacyTexas Group leading the way in first, ahead of Taiwan's KGI Bank and China's Bank of Tangshan.

Brazilian lenders still monopolise the top of the Latin American and Caribbean table, while banks from Panama, Argentina, the Dominican Republic and Mexico benefit from instability in the Venezuelan economy.

Middle Eastern banks continue to show impressive Tier 1 capital growth, with Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank and Qatar National Bank breaking into the global top 90 for the first time. Among the rest, National Bank of Abu Dhabi is the region's big winner.

As has been the case in most recent rankings, European lenders have continued to wrestle with asset quality issues.

High returns on assets are often shown by emerging markets, but this was not always true in the 2016 Top 1000 World Banks Ranking, with the US showing strongly in this field.

The trend in falling loan-to-deposit ratios continued in the 2016 Top 1000 World Banks ranking, as the aggregate ratio dipped.

Asia-Pacific, North America and western Europe continue to dominate the Top 1000 in terms of Tier 1 capital share and the number of banks. Elsewhere, the Middle East shows some growth, but Africa and central and eastern Europe are going backwards.

The dollar’s resilience has helped the US produce a large number of new arrivals in the 2016 Top 1000 World Banks ranking, while healthy numbers of European and Asian banks have returned to the list.