Theworld's five largest banks are all based in Asia, and China-headquartered banksmade up the top four, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence's latestglobal bank rankings.

S&PGlobal Market Intelligence ranks the largest banks in the world by convertingtheir total assets into U.S. dollars using the exchange rate as of the end ofthe period measured. Most banks were ranked by total assets as of Dec. 31, 2015.The previous rankingwas published in August 2015 and ranked most banks by total assets as of March31, 2015.

London-basedHSBC Holdings Plcfell to No. 6 from No. 4 in the previous ranking; the company's total assetsdropped to $2.410 trillion from $2.670 trillion. In the previous ranking, HSBCwas the only bank in the top five that was not headquartered in China, but inthe current ranking, Tokyo's MitsubishiUFJ Financial Group Inc. took that designation, jumping three spotsto No. 5 from No. 8.

Thethree largest banks in the world continued to be Beijing-based , ChinaConstruction Bank Corp. and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., with total year-end2015 assets calculated at $3.421 trillion, $2.826 trillion and $2.740 trillion,respectively. Bank of China, which is also based in Beijing, rose to No. 4 fromNo. 5 in the previous ranking, with total assets of $2.590 trillion.

continuedto be the largest U.S.-based bank despite falling by one spot to No. 7 in theglobal ranking, but it would rank No. 2 if it followed the same accountingprinciples as the Chinese banks. U.S. banks report their financials under U.S.GAAP, while the largest Chinese banks report under the IFRS accountingprinciple. Under U.S. GAAP, banks report the net amount of derivative assets ontheir balance sheets, while IFRS companies must report the gross amount ofderivative assets. If JPMorgan filed under IFRS, S&P Global MarketIntelligence estimates it would add assets of $902.20 billion, bringing itstotal assets to $3.254 trillion and making it the second-largest bank in theworld. S&P Global Market Intelligence did not perform the same analysis onbanks that report under Japanese GAAP or other types of GAAP.

Fourbanks were new entrants to the top 100 ranking: Sabadell, Spain's at No. 94;Winston-Salem, N.C.'s BB&TCorp. at No. 98; St. Gallen, Switzerland's at No.99; and Taipei, Taiwan's ChunghwaPost Co. Ltd. at No. 100.

Fallingoff last year's top 100 ranking are Copenhagen-based ; Brussels'Belfius Banque SA;St. Petersburg, Russia-based PAOVTB Bank; and Hanover, Germany's Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale.

Sixteenof the top 100 banks in the world are in China, and 12 are U.S.-based. Europe,including Russia, is home to 41 of the top 100 banks, down from 43 in 2015.