Banks from the emerging markets in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region dominate this year’s most profitable banks, leaving European banks with only two countries in the top 25 ranking.
Western Europe
Latest articles from Italy
Highest Movers table shows story after China
July 1, 2013The Highest Movers table of the Top 1000 has had a distinctly Chinese feel to it in recent years, but 2013's ranking shows rapid growth among financial institutions the world over, including in Europe's crisis economies.

How Monte dei Paschi made the wrong kind of history
March 1, 2013Management, shareholders and regulators all seem to carry some of the blame for allowing Monte dei Paschi to acquire Antonveneta, which created uncontrollable risks for what had previously been one of Italy's more conservative banks.
Don't take revenge on the raters for sovereign downgrades
February 25, 2013Sovereigns taking action against rating agencies are aiming at the wrong target.

UniCredit makes early move in investment banking rethink
December 3, 2012A strategic alliance in equities with a brokerage firm and the massive strengthening of the balance sheet have helped put UniCredit's corporate and investment bank ahead of the pack, according to deputy chief executive Olivier Khayat.

UniCredit beats Italy’s sovereign blues
October 1, 2012A covered bond placed with a yield well inside the Italian government provides a reassuring signal that the country’s largest bank by assets, UniCredit, has a viable funding plan to ride out the sovereign crisis.
Italy's banking leaders see chinks of light amid the gloom
October 1, 2012Italy's banks are struggling. Many are weighed down by bad assets and an oversubscription to government bonds, while those with relatively healthy portfolios are battling against a difficult economy and the series of downgrades that has recently befallen them. Despite this, CEOs at the country's largest institutions remain optimistic.

Italy's fall: a catastrophe waiting to happen?
January 3, 2012Italy's recent debt problems can be traced back to years of mismanagement by the country's self-serving politicians on both sides of the political fence. Mario Monti's 'technocrat' government, however, offers hope of a short-term financial revival and a long-term rethink of the manner in which Italian politics is conducted.

Remaking the eurozone
January 3, 2012Keeping Greece in and allowing massive European Central Bank intervention are the best ingredients for saving the eurozone. But the case for common eurozone bonds is less clear.

The sorry and familiar story of Italy's debt crisis
September 1, 2011Huge public debts, lacklustre political leadership, teetering on the edge of an abyss... For Italy in 2011, read Italy in 1992, or Italy in the mid 1970s. The country has failed to learn the lesson of past crises and will have to make some unpopular decisions if it is to break this cycle.