Most consistently profitable bank

Measured over the last 4 years there is only one bank that has increased pre-tax profit year on year.

It is:

Standard Chartered Bank. £4,109,000,000 to £6,769,000,000

Over the last 3 years there are six:

Ahli United Bank (UK) Plc. £3,675,000 to £50,881,000
Sainsbury's Bank Plc. £5,900,000 to £39,700,000
Vanquis Bank Ltd. £8,994,000 to £44,700,000
Zenith Bank (UK) Ltd. £1,999,421 to £5,104,963
Close Brothers Ltd. £53,300,000 to £140,200,000
ABC International Bank Plc. £9,886,000 to £20,547,000.

Fattest Cat

The fattest cat at present is a director of Standard Chartered Bank who, for the year to 31st December 2011, earned US$11,191,000. All in all, 25 banks paid their highest paid director more than £1,000,000.

And the safest bank is...

....Bank of the Philippine Islands (Europe) plc.

Ignoring start up situations, Bank of the Philippine Islands (Europe) Plc ha a capital assets ratio of 87.12%, putting it 4th in that table.

Vanquis Bank storming up the tables

With a return on capital of 43.70%, Vanquis Bank Ltd is positioned 4th in this table. Return on assets figure of 9.19% places it second. With a pre-tax profit growth of 91.85% it is positioned 13th; 25th in asset growth and 17th in capital growth. (Not surprising, therefore, that its highest paid director received £1,700,000 putting them 12th in that table). Lucky parent, Provident Financial Plc; unlucky Vanquis customers who pay a "representative 39.9% APR at present", a cash advance fee of 3% (minimum £3 - making taking out a tenner a 30% cost), and foreign currency transaction charge of 2.99%.

How many UK banks are loss making?

Two years on and 1 in 3 UK banks are still loss making. Of the 156 UK registered banks, 50 are loss making. Whilst The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc made a pre-tax loss of £719,000,000 - its best result for 4 years- , National Westminster Bank Plc has worsened, reporting a pre-tax loss of £4,427,000,000 compared to £2,381,000,000 for the previous year. At least Coutts & Co - another RBS group bank - has continued to make a profit, £157,464,000 for the latest year. (All figures for year to 31st December 2011).

Bank of Communications (UK) Ltd shows 6735% growth!

Occasionally statistics throw up an oddity. In its second year in the UK, Bank of Communications (UK) Ltd, a subsidiary of the Chinese-based Bank of Communications Co, Limited, has shown an asset growth of 6735.36%, putting it top of that particular table. This is due to it being a start-up situation where the issued share capital has increased from £162 to £100,000,000.

There are, however, nine other banks that show an asset growth of over 100%. These are (2) Goldman Sachs International Bank, (3) Shawbrook Bank Ltd, (4) Gatehouse Bank Plc, (5) State Street Bank Europe Ltd, (6) G E Capital Bank Ltd, (7) Talos Securities Ltd, (8) QIB (UK) Plc, (9) Aldermore Bank Bank Plc and (10) Metro Bank Plc.

More Banks

For the 6 months to December 2012 more banks have been registered than have deregistered.

The new banks are:
Bank of Cyprus UK Limited, and
Cambridge and Counties Bank Limited

Three have changed their name:
J P Morgan Securities Limited is now J P Morgan Securities Plc
Egg Banking Plc is now Canade Square Operations Plc, and
Northern Rock Plc is now Virgin Money Plc.

There has been one deletion, Pensions Bank Limited.