China's Banks Top Global Profitability Rankings
By wchung | 17 Mar, 2026

Banks headquartered in China accounted for one-third of global banking revenues in 2011, up from just 4% in 2007, according to UK-based The Bank magazine.

By revenue the world’s top three banks are the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of China. Much of their growth has come from seizing the opportunity presented by the European sovereign debt crisis to move into sectors and markets abandoned by European banks.

China’s banks top the profitability list as well. The world’s most profitable bank last year was Industrial and Commercial Bank of China with pre-tax profits of $43.2 billion, followed by China Construction Bank with $34.8 billion and Bank of China with $26.8 billion.

US-based JPMorgan Chase came in fourth place with pre-tax profits of $26.7 billion, followed by UK-based HSBC with $21.9 billion.

The world’s biggest deficit was suffered by the National Bank of Greece, which operated at a loss of $17.4 billion last year, followed by Belgium-based Dexia bank.

Euro zone banks tallied just 6% of global banking revenues compared with 46% in 2007.