Commonwealth world's second most profitable bank

Westpac lost its mantle as the "world's most profitable bank" in the annual survey of "creating value in banking" published by Boston Consulting Group, and published yesterday. Credit Suisse Group, from Switzerland, now holds that accolade with a 2009 return on equity of 21.2 per cent.

Commonwealth Bank made second place in the ranking of the most profitable bank, with a 2009 ROE of 19.0 per cent. CBA's ROE has since lifted to 19.8 per cent in the first half of its 2010 financial year.

BCG's research found that Spain had the most profitable banking sector in the world in 2009 with a sector average ROE of 14.9 per cent.

The sector ROE in Australia was 12.7 per cent and in Canada 12.6 per cent.

In the United States and Germany the average ROE was 3.5 per cent. Banking systems in Britain and Japan recorded aggregate losses.