In The Banker's Top 1000 Banks ranking 2013, based on end-2012 data, China’s banking assets overtook those of the US for the first time, to reach $15,700bn compared with $13,900bn in the US. Chinese pre-tax profits had already eclipsed those for US banks in the wake of the financial crisis, exceeding US bank profits by almost $36bn in 2010 (see chart).
However, while profitability in the US is recovering, there are concerns that the Chinese performance has peaked. Profits continued to rise in 2012, but the pace of asset growth has slowed. In the wake of the US financial crisis in 2008, the Chinese government stimulated the economy via an injection of capital and liquidity in the banking sector, leading to a dramatic average annual growth rate for assets of more than 45% in the five-year period from 2005 to 2010 (see chart 2).
