JPMorgan ranked first in the list of the world's strongest banks

According to new industry rankings, JPMorgan, moving up from fourth place, topped The Banker`s annual list of the strongest 1,000 global banks, while RBS's $59.3 billion loss last year surpassed all rivals, including Citigroup's $53 billion loss and Wells Fargo's $47.8 billion loss.

Global bank profits fell 85 percent last year to $115 billion, down from $781 billion, and return on equity dropped to 2.69 percent from 20 percent, according to The Bank magazine.

In addition, Bank of America ranked second, Citigroup was third and RBS was fourth. JPMorgan was helped by its takeover of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual and Bank of America was supported by its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

Though HSBC fell to fifth spot from first, it was the only one of the top five not to receive any government support. The highest ranked Asian bank in seventh, a place ahead of China's ICBC, was Mitsubishi UFJ.

The five most profitable banks were all from China or Spain. China Construction Bank was second with a $17.5 billion profit, followed by Santander ($15.8 billion), Bank of China ($12.6 billion) and BBVA (9.6 billion), which were followed by Britain's HSBC ($9.3 billion) and Barclays ($8.9 billion).