Fast growth in emerging markets has historically led to banks in these regions posting high returns on assets (ROAs) in The Banker's Top 1000 World Banks list, and 2015’s ranking is no exception, with Latin America, Africa and central and eastern Europe (CEE) and central Asia recording some of the highest ROAs globally.
Mexico's Banco Compartamos ranks second in the world by this measure, with an ROA of 17.9%. ForteBank, which ranks third in Kazakhstan by Tier 1 capital, posted an ROA of 15.14%, which makes it the highest ranking lender in the CEE/central Asia region by this measure and the third highest ranking in the world. Two other Kazakh lenders feature in the CEE/central Asia top five – Halyk Bank and Kaspi Bank – having earned ROAs of 5.05% and 4.80%, respectively.
In Africa, South Africa's Capitec Bank Holdings tops the table with an impressive 6.6% ROA. It is followed in second place by Kenya's Equity Bank, which earned 6.49%, a slight decrease from last year's 6.84%, which made it Africa's most profitable lender by this measure in the 2014 ranking. Kenya Commercial Bank, which also slipped down one place compared with the 2014 ranking, ranks fourth with an ROA of 4.85%.
The low profitability ratios of Chinese banks show that dynamic growth of the local economy does not always translate into high ROAs. Bank of Taizhou, the best performer in China by this measure, has an ROA of 2.87%, less than the fifth ranking lenders in the Latin American, African and CEE/central Asia rankings.
