Chinese and Japanese banks again dominate the list of The Asian Banker 500 largest banks. Balance sheet growth accelerated in the first half of 2020 and some players are reinforcing their scale and competitiveness through mergers and acquisitions

Thirty-seven banks held assets surpassing $1 trillion, distributed among 16 in Asia Pacific, 13 in Europe, and eight in North America, representing 51% of the top 1000 banks’ total assets; overall asset growth has decelerated, with the US and some European nations experiencing steep declines and countries like Egypt demonstrating resilience

Bank boards globally lack enough technology experts to influence strategy decisions, though North American banks are better at integrating such experts into their boards