The Asia-Pacific region, driven by China, now accounts for a whopping 55% of global banking profits based on net income data, compared with 43.5% last year, according to The Banker’s 2021 Top 1000 World Banks ranking.
North America is responsible for 24% of global banking profits (down from 26% last year) and western Europe now accounts for just 10%, down from 16% last year and nearly one third a decade ago.
Last year, US banks held 13.6% of total global assets but generated 21.9% of global profits, compared with Chinese banks, which held 24.6% of total assets, but only generated 28.5% of global pre-tax profits.
According to this year’s data, China now holds 25.3% of the world’s assets ($148.6tn) and generates 37.2% of profits, while the US holds 13.5% of assets and generates 18.5% of pre-tax profits.
Africa’s banks, meanwhile, which had been enjoying steady, if slow, growth in pre-tax profits, saw this fall by 35% year-on-year to $14.7bn, their lowest total since 2012.
