As Barclays was engulfed in the rate-rigging scandal, it was still named as one of the 20 most profitable banks in the world.
Last year's profits haul of 9.1 billion US dollars (£5.8 billion) put it 18th on The Banker magazine's rankings of the biggest 1,000 lenders.
HSBC was the only UK bank to better it, coming in seventh on the list thanks to its surplus of 21.9 billion US dollars (£13.9 billion).
But overall, UK banks lost their stature in the international arena amid strong competition from the Chinese.
Taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds featured in a list of the 25 worst losses, after notching up deficits of 1.1 billion US dollars and 5.5 billion US dollars respectively.
UK banks suffered an 8.2 per cent fall in profits, while lending was down 3.1 per cent.
In just five years, UK banks' share of global banking profits has halved to five per cent, whereas Chinese banks make up nearly 30 per cent of profits, up from just four per cent in 2007.
Banker editor Brian Caplen said: "While UK banks as a whole have suffered tremendously in terms of their share of global banking profits, the performance of individual UK banks is extremely varied.
"Some are making huge profits while others make huge losses.
"Chinese banks on the other hand are making the type of profits that European banks can only dream about and this year's results show Europe's loss is China's gain."
Only one UK bank made it on to the top 10 in terms of capital strength.
HSBC was in fourth place, down from third place last year, but RBS was knocked out of the top 10 as an extra Chinese bank muscled its way in.