Lower oil prices have not dried out the huge liquidity available to most Middle East banks, which have continued to produce booming profits and strong growth in the region, especially in the Gulf. As a result, the number of banks from the Middle East region in the 2007 Top 1000 has increased from 83 last year to 94.
Bank of America has stolen the crown of Citigroup. The bank, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, motored ahead of the erstwhile number one bank in our list and is now the largest bank in North America and in the world, with Tier 1 capital of $91,065m.
The latest Top 25 Asian listing emphasises the growing dominance of the big state-controlled Chinese banks. Following their recent record initial public offerings (IPOs), the big three state banks, led by ICBC with a Tier 1 capital of $59.2bn, and followed by Bank of China ($52.5bn) and last year’s leader, China Construction Bank ($42.3bn), have moved far away from their nearest Asian competitor, National Australia Bank with $17.5bn.
Clive Triance, head of securities and fund services and direct custody and clearing, Europe, Middle East and Africa, at Citi, tells Heather McKenzie how the EU clearing and settlement landscape is moving towards better processing, increased efficiency and general market transparency.