Four of the world’s top five banks are Chinese according to this year’s list of the top 1000 banks compiled by The Banker magazine, which ranks banks by the amount of capital they hold.

ICBC is the largest, followed by the China Construction Bank. American lender JP Morgan is the first non-Chinese bank in the list, in third place.

The Chinese banking sector made $308bn in profits last year, well above the US where banks made $206.4bn.

If China’s banks are indeed slowing, however, it is difficult to see who could take their place at the top of the table.

“We have compiled this list since 1970 and have seen groups of banks come and go – in 1990 it was almost completely Japanese banks at the top, but now there is only one in the top 10. There were times when it was all Americans, and now it is all Chinese banks. Conditions can change,” said Brian Caplen, editor of The Banker.