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%. Â
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.
Asia-Pacific (excluding China and Japan) welcomes back Indian bank Bandhan Bank to its regional top five by ROA, after the country was conspicuously absent last year. Bandhan places second in Asia-Pacific with an ROA of 3.46%. Japan continues to dangle at the bottom end of the rankings with ROAs ranging from 0.64% to 1.29%. China, frequently at the top of any banking table over the past few years, fares little better; its Bank of Taizou tops the country top five with an uninspiring ROA of 2.47%.
Top Five ROA: Africa
| Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Country | Return on assets (%) |
| 1 | 925 | Banco de Fomento Angola (BFA) | Angola | 10.23 |
| 2 | 582 | Guaranty Trust Bank | Nigeria | 5.62 |
| 3 | 588 | Capitec Bank Holdings | South Africa | 5.27 |
| 4 | 932 | Banco BIC | Angola | 3.90 |
| 5 | 885 | African Bank | South Africa | 3.87 |
Top Five ROA: Asia-Pacific (ex China/Japan)
| Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Country | Return on assets (%) |
| 1 | 875 | Bank of South Pacific | Papua New Guinea | 3.66 |
| 2 | 578 | Bandhan Bank | India | 3.46 |
| 3 | 495 | Techcombank | Vietnam | 3.32 |
| 4 | 138 | Bank Central Asia (BCA) | Indonesia | 3.13 |
| 5 | 386 | Halyk Bank | Kazakhstan | 2.83 |
Top Five ROA: Japan
| Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Return on assets (%) |
| 1 | 494 | San ju San Financial Group | 1.29 |
| 2 | 501 | Seven Bank | 1.16 |
| 3 | 303 | Aozora Bank | 0.65 |
| 4 | 329 | Daishi Hokuetsu Financial Group | 0.64 |
| 5 | 705 | Rakuten Bank | 0.64 |
Top Five ROA: Western Europe
| Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Country | Return on assets (%) |
| 1 | 934 | Saxo Bank Group | Denmark | 2.77 |
| 2 | 611 | Close Brothers Group | UK | 2.62 |
| 3 | 369 | Schroders | UK | 2.57 |
| 4 | 735 | Hellenic Bank | Cyprus | 1.98 |
| 5 | 147 | Turkiye Is Bankasi | Turkey | 1.89 |
Top Five ROA: Latam and Caribbean
| Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Country | Return on assets (%) |
| 1 | 638 | Banco Macro | Argentina | 4.60 |
| 2 | 798 | Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay (BHU) | Uruguay | 4.05 |
| 3 | 818 | Banco Daycoval | Brazil | 2.95 |
| 4 | 595 | Interbank | Peru | 2.89 |
| 5 | 276 | Banco Inbursa | Mexico | 2.88 |
Top Five ROA: North America
| Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Country | Return on assets (%) |
| 1 | 590 | United National Corporation | US | 12.60 |
| 2 | 88 | American Express Company | US | 3.67 |
| 3 | 225 | Raymond James | US | 2.54 |
| 4 | 473 | Beal Bank | US | 2.53 |
| 5 | 133 | Discover Financial Services | US | 2.50 |
Top Five ROA: Middle East
| Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Country | Return on assets (%) |
| 1 | 161 | Saudi British Bank (SABB) | Saudi Arabia | 2.82 |
| 2 | 113 | Al Rajhi Bank | Saudi Arabia | 2.82 |
| 3 | 680 | National Bank of Umm Al Qaiwain | United Arab Emirates | 2.79 |
| 4 | 123 | Samba Financial Group | Saudi Arabia | 2.40 |
| 5 | 93 | National Commercial Bank | Saudi Arabia | 2.39 |
Top Five ROA: China
| Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Return on assets (%) |
| 1 | 423 | Bank of Taizhou | 2.47 |
| 2 | 496 | Zhejiang Tailong Commercial Bank | 1.64 |
| 3 | 401 | Guangdong Nanhai Rural Commercial Bank | 1.47 |
| 4 | 300 | Shenzhen Rural Commercial Bank | 1.36 |
| 5 | 19 | China Merchants Bank | 1.20 |
Top Five ROA: CEE
| Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Country | Return on assets (%) |
| 1 | 814 | Tinkoff Bank | Russia | 7.22 |
| 2 | 708 | PrivatBank | Ukraine | 4.62 |
| 3 | 783 | International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) | Azerbaijan | 3.61 |
| 4 | 194 | Alfa Bank | Russia | 3.46 |
| 5 | 987 | Bank of Georgia | Georgia | 3.30 |
