The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has been named as the world’s most profitable bank, while Bankia, of Spain, takes the wooden spoon as the biggest lossmaker.
ICBC also moves from third place to first as ranked by Tier 1 capital, according to The Banker magazine, pushing Bank of America into third place.
The Beijing-based and state-controlled ICBC is a financial goliath with 405,000 employees, 18,000 branches and about 150 million customers. It was listed on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets in 2006.
By profits, Chinese banks take the top four places in the global league tables, with HSBC, which has a big presence in Hong Kong and mainland China, in seventh place.
The rise of the Chinese banks comes amid growing