US banks have rallied hard in the past month driven by a healthy earnings season and a rebound in investor confidence in the economy and the financial sector. After the sector turmoil over the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, it is very much a case of crisis averted. European bank share prices have been more muted over the past month but are up 25 per cent over the past 12 months.
JPMorgan Chase now stands head and shoulders above all global peers in market value. Three other mega caps — Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley — are among the largest 10 banks in the world by market value.
But, looking a bit deeper, the past few years of deglobalisation have been characterised by the strength of national champions across the world. Only just over a third of the largest 100 banks in the world by market capitalisation are US or European.