As was the case in the 2014 ranking, the highest mover in The Banker's 2015 Top 1000 World Banks list – Cooperative Central Bank – comes from Cyprus. The bank posted a 312.63% capital increase, which brought its Tier 1 capital to $1.48bn, also earning it a position in the new arrivals table. This figure is not as high as last year’s highest mover, which was Bank of Cyprus with a growth of 1888.23%; however, in general, capital growth slowed across the globe in 2014 compared with the year before. Also, as was the case with the Bank of Cyprus, the capital increase at the Cooperative Central Bank was a result of a recapitalisation deal rather than a strategic capital expansion.
US lenders have had a good year and feature prominently among this year’s highest movers. Investors Bancorp from US, which ranks 273 in the world, places second, having achieved 177.16% growth in 2014. There are five other American banks in the table; of these, Pacwest Bancorp and Umpqua Holdings Corporation perform particularly well, with the former in the third spot, as the bank increased its Tier 1 capital 139.69% to $1.72bn, and the latter ranked sixth, as the bank posted a capital change of 92.01% bringing its Tier 1 to $2.27bn.
