BRIC banks profit as European and US grip on Top 1000 loosens

摘要

If evidence is needed that the global banking landscape is shifting, a glance at The Banker's 2008 Top 1000 World Banks ranking is illuminating. The US banks are a pale shadow of their former selves on the global stage. Profits for the 169 US banks in the 2008 listing (fiscal 2007 figures) at $112.8bn accounted for just 14% of the Top 1000 aggregate, compared with 24% the previous year; and going back five years to the 2003 ranking, they provided a whopping 49% of the total. Also the US core bank presence is diminishing, falling to 169 banks from 185 last year and 210 in the 2003 ranking. As the US grip is slipping, Europe is not faring much better. Profits at the 266 EU banks, down from 279 last year, managed to maintain the EU 27 share of Top 1000 profits at 41 % but the bleak economic outlook for Europe does not auger well.