ASX 200 bank shares are some of the most popular stocks among Australian investors, largely due to their share price stability and strong history of paying above-average dividends.
They aren't known for their share price growth, although Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) and Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) are generally considered exceptions to that rule.
Let's take a look at the capital growth of ASX 200 bank shares over the past three years.
The top ASX 200 bank share for capital growth
According to data provided by S & P Global Market Intelligence, over the past three years:
National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) shares rose by 55.5%
The CBA share price rose by 44.5%
The Macquarie share price gained 39%
ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: ANZ) shares went up 34.5%
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN) shares rose by 27.4%
The Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) share price ascended 21.5%
Bank of Queensland Ltd (ASX: BOQ) shares fell by 3.1%.
By comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) rose by 19.2% over the same time period.
This goes to show that ASX 200 bank shares have delivered a superior performance to the index.
What about bank dividends?
Not all of the banks have reported their full-year FY23 results and final dividends yet, so we can't do a proper comparison for the past three years.
But ASX income investors can check out the experts' predictions regarding how much each of the ASX 200 bank shares will pay in dividends in FY24 here.
We also recently took a deep dive into whether it's time to buy Westpac shares or NAB shares for passive income.
All of the banks — bar Macquarie — pay fully franked dividends, which helps reduce the tax investors have to pay.
Macquarie dividends have carried 40% franking over the past three years.
