There has been a change at the top in North America’s regional table, with JPMorgan surpassing Bank of America. The New York-based lender continued to expand its Tier 1 capital, which is now $160bn – up from $150.4bn in 2012’s rankings – while Bank of America decreased it capital to $155.5bn, down from $159bn and $163bn in the previous two annual rankings, respectively.
Further down the list, all positions up to ninth are as they were in last year’s ranking, and all but one of the lenders have increased their capital positions. Royal Bank of Canada, in seventh place, saw its Tier 1 decrease slightly to $32.9bn from $35.9bn, but remains the top Canadian player and displays the fifth highest return on capital (29.29%) in the region. Canadian banks changed accounting standards last year, however, which makes comparisons with previous Tier 1 figures difficult.
The second highest mover in the North America table is Scotiabank, which moved to 10th place from 11th last year, pushing Toronto-based Dominion Bank down one position.
The most generous return on capital was recorded by US-based Franklin Resources (43.48%), which ranks 162nd in the Top 1000 and did not make it into the regional ranking. American Express and Discover Financial offer the next best ratios, at a respective 43.24% and 39.75%, and feature in 17th and 25th place in the North America table, respectively.
Out of the regional top 25, Capital One Financial is the only lender to appear in the highest movers ranking, in fourth place with a 35.62% increase in Tier 1 capital, at $25.35bn.
US-based Talmer Bancorp is by far the most improved, with a 64.31% Tier 1 growth. Still a relatively small $510m, the Michigan-based bank has potential to improve further in next year’s rankings. It completed the acquisition of Ohio-based First Place Bank earlier this year, which will more than double its assets and deposits. As of the first quarter of 2013, the mid-west bank had an impressive liquidity ratio of more than 11% and non-performing loans were just 0.24% of its total portfolio.
