Banks in China, Australia see market caps rise in Q2 on falling interest rates

In contrast, Japanese megabanks and DBS saw their market caps fall.

Falling interest rates attracted investors to bank stocks and pushed up the market capitalizations of most major banks in Asia Pacific.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) became the fifth largest lender in the region by market cap in Q2 2025 as falling interest rates boosted its market cap by 22.4% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to $202.52b, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, citing data gathered as of 30 June 2025.

It surpassed India’s HDFC Bank, which gained 9.7% QoQ to a $178.95b market cap.

“Central banks in India, Australia and other large regional economies have cut rates in recent months amid confidence that inflation will stay benign,” said S&P Global Market Intelligence’s contributors Gaurav Raghuvanshi and Uneeb Asim.

Chinese banks continued to dominate, and its big four banks are still the largest banks in the region both by assets and by market cap.

ICBC’s market cap grew 12.5% to $354.42b; whilst China Construction Bank’s rose 21.7% to $270.48b.

China Merchants Bank gained an 8.1% market cap boost in Q2 to become the seventh largest bank in the region, surpassing Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG).

MUFG is one of four banks in the Top 20 list whose market cap declined during the quarter.

Japanese megabanks were named “notable laggards” by S&P Group Market Intelligence as they gave up prior gains. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group saw a 4.7% decline in market cap; MUFG lost 2.2%; and Mizuho Financial Group‘s market cap was down 0.8%.

The fourth bank in the Top 20 to see its market cap decline is DBS Group Holdings, with a 3.6% drop during the quarter.

“The biggest bank in Southeast Asia by assets is among the lenders most exposed to global trade tensions due to its role as a major trade financier in the region,” Raghuvanshi and Asim wrote.