According to the Banker, bank of America, which bought Merrill Lynch during the crisis, became the largest bank in the world by this measure in 2009, displacing JPMorgan Chase.
Hao Ting, who owns a petroleum-equipment business in Beijing, recalls the investment sales pitch from her private banker in Hong Kong at Singapore's DBS Bank: "The world is made for wealthy people.
He got the idea after being tipped off by a banker who told him that the world was littered with valuable oil fields that were ignored by big companies because they were too small.