Among the world's largest financial companies, Chinese banks hold three of the top six spots based on market value, even though their shares have declined more than 20 percent in Hong Kong trading since last October. London-based HSBC Holdings Plc, the biggest non-Chinese bank, is number three on the list, behind Beijing-based Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank Corp.
The Chinese banks’ top rankings are due, in large part, to having avoided almost all of the $480 billion in write-downs and credit market losses that sent other bank stocks tumbling worldwide, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. As recently as two years ago, the world's largest banks were led by Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. of the U.S. and UBS AG in Europe.
Said Shao Chingxiao, managing partner of SMC China Fund in Shanghai, “Compared with the continuing writedowns at Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, Chinese banks are definitely winning the financial medals.”