JPMorgan is the world's strongest bank: Report

[B. Karthick]

JPMorgan tops a list of the world's strongest banks, while Royal Bank
of Scotland suffered the biggest loss of any lender last
year,according to new industry rankings on Wednesday.

RBS's $59.3 billion loss last year eclipsed all rivals, including
Citigroup's $53 billion loss and Wells Fargo's $47.8 billion loss,
according to The Banker magazine. Global bank profits slumped 85
percent last year to $115 billion, down from $781 billion, and return
on equity plunged to 2.69 percent from 20 percent, the magazine
estimated.

JPMorgan topped The Banker's annual list of the strongest 1,000 global
banks, moving up from fourth place a year earlier. The rankings, which
have run since the 1970s, are based on capital strength, or the amount
of Tier 1 capital held.

Bank of America ranked second, Citigroup was third and RBS was fourth,
despite the problems for all three last year. JPMorgan was helped by
its takeover of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual and Bank of America
was boosted by its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

HSBC fell to fifth spot from first, but it was the only one of the top
five not to receive any government support, and would rank third if
government support was stripped out, The Banker said. Mitsubishi UFJ
was the highest ranked Asian bank in seventh, a place ahead of China's
ICBC.

ICBC was the most profitable bank last year with earnings of $21.3
billion, the Banker estimated. The five most profitable banks were all
from China or Spain. China Construction Bank ranked second with a
$17.5 billion profit, followed by Santander ($15.8 billion), Bank of
China ($12.6 billion) and BBVA (9.6 billion). They were followed by
Britain's HSBC ($9.3 billion) and Barclays ($8.9 billion).