Drea Knufken
The recent global liquidity crisis brought down the pre-tax profits of the world’s top 1,000 banks to a measly $115 billion. Still, those same banks hold $800 trillion in assets. If those asset numbers go much higher, they’re going to be the first industry to introduce us to the concept of quadrillion.
Investment banking fees alone made banks $66 billion in 2009. Nearly half of those revenues came from US banks, followed by Europe. That said, the world’s most profitable bank today is the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, which made $16 billion in profits in 2008.
