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Top 1000 World BanksSeptember 1 2021

New arrivals at lowest level for more than 10 years

China has the largest number of new entrants in 2021, with Mengshang Bank leading the pack. However, a lack of mergers and acquisitions means far fewer banks have joined the ranking this year. 
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Only 14 new banks from 10 countries joined the Top 1000 World Bank ranking in 2021, the lowest number of arrivals seen in more than a decade and less than half of the new entrants compared to last year. This is indicative of a low level of merger and acquisition activity among the world’s largest banks.

The Asia-Pacific region is well represented in the new arrivals table with seven banks, five of which come from China.

The highest new entrant is the country’s Mengshang Bank, which jumps into the Top 1000 ranking at 394th position, with $3.1bn in Tier 1 capital. The bank took over the assets and operations of Baoshang Bank, an Inner Mongolian commercial lender that had been struggling for years. It had not filed an annual report since 2017 before the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) stepped in to rescue it in mid-2019.

State-owned China Construction Bank was appointed to oversee operations through Baoshang’s reorganisation. State investors including a national deposit insurance fund managed by the central bank and the government of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region took part in the restructuring.

Compatriots Foshan Rural Commercial Bank, from the central Guangdong Province, is the third largest arrival, with $2.4bn in Tier 1 capital and sitting in 480th position in the global ranking, followed by the Bank of Tibet, which was established in 2012 in the autonomous region, and Ningbo Commerce Bank, located in the eastern province of Zhejiang. The two Chinese banks entered the global ranking in 694th and 696th place, respectively, both with Tier 1 capital of around $1.3bn.

New arrivals

World Rank Bank Name Country Tier 1 Capital $m
394 Mengshang Bank China 3,121
464 KakaoBank South Korea 2,529
480 Foshan Rural Commercial Bank China 2,393
694 Bank of Tibet China 1,299
696 Ningbo Commerce Bank China 1,289
717 Equitable Bank Canada 1,239
889 WiZink Bank Spain 742
904 OakNorth Bank UK 705
932 XW Bank China 659
957 Sparebank 1 BV Norway 613
962 Orient Bank Vietnam 601
967 NCBA Kenya 594
969 Banco Inter Brazil 592
989 The Bancorp US 561

Online challengers

Chinese digital challenger XW Bank enters the Top 1000 ranking at 932nd position, with $659m in Tier 1 capital. With a year-on-year rise of 45.3%, the internet bank also made it into the top 25 highest movers’ table. Founded in 2016, XW Bank is based in Sichuan province and backed by Chinese electronics company Xiaomi and conglomerate New Hope Group.

With an open banking model, the internet bank offers tailored financial products such as entrepreneur loans and micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) loans. However, it has come under regulatory scrutiny in March this year, when the CBIRC criticised it for high interest rates on loans and failing to follow risk assessment and debt collection regulations.

South Korea’s KakaoBank takes second place in the new arrivals table, with $2.5bn in Tier 1 capital, and joins the Top 1000 in 464th place. Launched in mid-2017 as one of the country’s first digital banks, KakaoBank offers consumers online/mobile-only banking services. It has $24.5bn in assets, expanding its asset base by 24.8% year-on-year.

At a time when challenger banks are being criticised for operating in the red and prioritising growth over profitability, both XW Bank and KakaoBank recorded pre-tax profits of $120m and $112m, respectively, in 2020.

Vietnam’s addition to the Top 1000 in 2021 is Orient Commercial Bank, which enters in the ranking at 962nd place. In early 2020, Japanese commercial bank Aozora Bank invested $138m to acquire a 15% stake in the mid-sized Vietnamese lender.

The western European region saw three banks join the ranks of the Top 1000: online retail bank WiZink Bank of Spain, in 889th place with $742m in Tier 1 capital; UK SME challenger OakNorth Bank, in 904th place and $705m in Tier 1 capital; and Sparebank 1 BV, a Norwegian savings bank, in 957th place with $613m in Tier 1. Of the three, WiZink Bank increased its Tier 1 by the biggest margin, rising by 25.7%, while OakNorth increased its asset base the most, by 15.7%.

In the Americas, Brazilian digital bank Banco Inter entered the exclusive Top 1000 club, at 969th place. Launched in 1994, it operated as Banco Intermedium until 2017. The bank caters to both private and business customers and, despite a challenging domestic environment, managed to add 12.6% to its Tier 1 capital. Canada’s Equitable Bank, which provides residential and commercial real estate lending services, as well as personal banking through its direct banking brand EQ Bank, also had its premiere in 2021, coming in at 717th place. The lender increased its Tier 1 by 15.9%, to $1.2bn.

Last year, 19 US institutions joined the Top 1000 ranking, constituting more than half of the 33 new entrants; however, this year the country added only one: The Bancorp Bank. Based in Delaware, the bank serves non-bank financial service companies, ranging from entrepreneurial start-ups to those on the Fortune 500. It joins in 989th position, increasing its Tier 1 capital by 17.9%, to $561m.

Kenya also added one bank to the Top 1000 in 2021 — NCBA Bank. With $594m in Tier 1 capital and placing 967th in the main ranking, NCBA Bank has assets worth $4.8bn and generated profits of $46m in 2020.

Returning number stable

While the number of new arrivals may have dramatically reduced year-on-year, the number of banks being welcomed back into this exclusive Top 1000 group has remained about the same. Last year, 36 institutions made a reappearance after a short absence, while this year there are 31.

The country fielding the largest number of returners is India, with 13 banks back in the ranking in 2021. In 2020, 24 Indian banks were unable to provide data for our analysis and therefore could not be included in the ranking. Three of the largest returners are from India: Bank of Baroda (ranked 152nd), Union Bank of India (199th) and Canara Bank (214th). But this list also includes longstanding members of the Top 1000 club, such as Bank of India, Indian Bank, IDBI and Bandhan Bank.

Last year, China had the greatest number of banks returning to the ranking, whereas India had none. This year, four Chinese banks have also come back into the fold: Chengdu Rural Commercial Bank, Hubei Bank, Wuhan Rural Commercial Bank and Hankou Bank. Like their Indian counterparts in the welcome back table, they were unable to submit end-of-year financial data for our analysis last year.

Germany has three banks in the welcome back table — Frankfurter Volksbank, Berliner Volksbank and BB Bank — whereas last year it had none.

In 2020, we lost 10 Lebanese banks from the Top 1000 global ranking. The country’s banking industry faced serious economic headwinds and political turmoil throughout 2019, which carried into 2020. We are pleased to see Bank Audi back in the ranking in 2021 — the highest ranking non-Asian bank to rejoin in 372nd place — and look forward to including more Lebanese banks in future.

Welcome back

World rank Bank Name Country Tier 1 Capital ($m)
152 Bank of Baroda India 11,762
199 Union Bank of India India 7,767
214 Canara Bank India 7,270
231 Chengdu Rural Commercial Bank China 6,734
294 Bank of India India 4,904
297 Indian Bank India 4,842
336 Hubei Bank China 3,951
359 Wuhan Rural Commercial Bank China 3,535
364 Hankou Bank China 3,481
372 Bank Audi Lebanon 3,296
430 IDBI India 2,848
445 Dukhan Bank Qatar 2,724
494 Bandhan Bank India 2,296
585 Frankfurter Volksbank Germany 1,742
600 Berliner Volksbank Germany 1,673
629 Crelan Belgium 1,558
631 UCO Bank India 1,553
712 Bank of Maharashtra India 1,246
749 Farmers & Merchants Bank of Long Beach US 1,141
756 BB Bank Germany 1,111
799 Punjab & Sind Bank India 985
823 Karur Vysya Bank India 913
850 Karnataka Bank India 835
857 South Indian Bank India 820
880 Banca Agricola di Ragusa Italy 779
887 Banco Credicoop Argentina 751
890 Bank of Sharjah United Arab Emirates 742
919 State Savings Bank of Ukraine Ukraine 686
974 Banco Finantia Portugal 584
982 Vietnam International Bank (VIB) Vietnam 576
983 Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie Tunisia 576

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Read more about:  Rankings & data , Top 1000 World Banks
Joy Macknight is the editor of The Banker. She joined the publication in 2015 as transaction banking and technology editor. Previously, she was features editor at Profit & Loss, editorial director at Treasury Today and editor at gtnews. She also worked as a staff writer on Banking Technology and IBM Computer Today, as well as a freelancer on Computer Weekly. She has a BSc from the University of Victoria, Canada.
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