The Asia Pacific region (APAC) covers the largest global sector both in terms of geographic area and population. As well, it includes the two major countries that have displayed the fastest rate of economic growth over the past two decades, India and China. Consequently, the largest banks in Asia Pacific region also rank amongst the largest in the world.

 

20 countries and territories are counted in the Asia Pacific region and taking the top 500 banks, they account for a combined $58.4 trillion in assets, $30.4 trillion in net loans, $40.5 trillion in deposits and $416 billion in net profit. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China remained the largest bank in the region.

 

Chinese banks continue to dominate the list, with their total assets accounting for just more than 50% of the combined assets of the Asia Pacific bloc. The total number of Japanese banks has declined recently, with the drop partially attributable to regional bank mergers in Japan.

 

The following table shows the total number of banks per country that rank within the 100 top banks in Asia Pacific.

  1. Australia – 5
  2. China – 32
  3. Hong Kong – 6
  1. India – 8
  2. Indonesia – 1
  3. Japan – 15
  1. Macau – 1
  2. Malaysia – 3
  3. New Zealand – 1
  1. Singapore – 3
  2. South Korea – 7
  3. Taiwan – 9
  4. Thailand – 5

One way to compare the best banks in Asia Pacific is by market capitalization (with the condition that not all banks are listed for public trading, particularly in China where central ownership of the banks is the norm.

Largest Banks in Asia Pacific

Trying to predict the ranking of the top banks in Asia Pacific 2021 is complicated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is especially the case for China because the actual degree of spread and effects is largely unknown. In all probability, the overall rankings will stay close to the above tables, since there are global effects that will affect each country equally. Having said that, there are strong indications that Australia and New Zealand have both performed exceptionally well with minimal infections and hospitalizations, so an uptick in their banks would not be unexpected.

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