Chinese lenders dominate APAC bank rankings with 22 in the top-50 list

India's ICICI Bank, at 50th spot, among newest additions to the compilation, which also has SBI (22) and HDFC Bank (44)

Chinese banks continued to dominate the ranking of Asia-Pacific's top 50 largest banks by total assets in 2021, helped by strong growth in lending after a pandemic-induced slowdown, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Twenty-two mainland Chinese banks featured in the list, holding combined assets of $34.5 trillion at end-2021, up more than 10 per cent from a year ago.

Macquarie and India's ICICI Bank were the newest additions to the Top 50 largest Asia-Pacific banks, coming in at number 47 and number 50, respectively. The other two Indian banks in the list were State Bank of India (number 22) and HDFC Bank (number 44).

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China kept their positions as the region's largest banks, with their total assets growing 10.2 per cent year over year (y/y) to $19.1 trillion in 2021.

China's economy registered 8.1 per cent growth in 2021 even though the pace slowed during the second half of the year. Banks in the world's second-largest economy benefited from solid growth in new bank lending, which hit a record 19.95 trillion yuan in 2021, an increase of 1.6 per cent over 2020, the People's Bank of China said.

Eight Japanese banks, with combined assets of $11.7 trillion, made it to the list, compared with nine lenders with combined assets of $12.8 trillion in the previous-year ranking. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. retained its fifth position on the list with $3.2 trillion in assets. South Korea has six lenders featured on the ranking, including KB Financial Group Inc. (at No. 26) and Shinhan Financial Group Co. (No. 29).

Australia's four largest banks, along with Macquarie Group, reported combined assets of $3.2 trillion at the end of 2021. Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac Banking Corp. retained their rankings at number 19 and number 23, respectively.

Banks in the Asia-Pacific face uncertainties from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and divergent monetary policies in the region. The rising pace of inflation, fueled by higher commodity prices, has pressured the region's central banks to follow the U.S. Federal Reserve and end ultra-loose monetary policies.

Rank	Bank	Headquarters	Assets ($ bn)
1	Industrial & Commercial Bank of China	Mainland China	5536
2	China Construction Bank	Mainland China	4762
3	Agricultural Bank of China	Mainland China	4575
4	Bank of China	Mainland China	4206
5	Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group	Japan	3176
6	Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group	Japan	2176
7	Japan Post Bank	Japan	1998
22	State Bank of India	India	694
44	HDFC Bank	India	267
50	ICICI Bank	India	225