Taken as a whole, the capital adequacy of the Top 1000 World Banks has improved since the 2015 results. The average capital assets ratio (CAR) has climbed from 6.1% to 6.44% and two banks have achieved CARs above 65%; in the 2015 rankings just one lender recorded more than 53%. Bahrain’s First Energy Bank has clinched the top spot, while Denmark’s FIH Erhvervsbank has shot to second place after nearly tripling its CAR since the 2015 ranking.
Among western European banks, the average CAR has jumped from 4.88% to 5.31%, but they still lag behind their North American counterparts which average 8.18% (up from 7.86% in the 2015 ranking). On a regional basis, the Middle East is still out in front with 10.69%, while China has beaten the global average by almost half a percentage point.
