Lists of the top banks in the world will come up with differing names, depending on whether you use assets, revenue, market capitalization, size of customer base or any one of the many other reference points that can measure the relative sizes to grade them. As a result, these usually come up with different results. As well, some banks use reporting methods that have to conform with their own countries’ regulations and so use a different basis for reporting.

 

 

To rank the top 50 banks in the world by market cap will give the most reliable answer because this is a public and real measure, but it will leave out operating banks that are not themselves quoted on a stock exchange but are wholly-owned subsidiaries either of a parent financial institution or of a private entity.

 

 

Of the 50 top banks in the world by market capitalization, 11 are located in the USA, headed by JPMorgan Chase, which is the largest bank in the world in this ranking. Next on the list is mainland China with 9 banks, headed by Industrial & Commercial Bank, which is number two on the global list.

Here is a quick look at the top 10 banks in the world:

To rank the top 10 banks in the world by assets, analysts usually measure the bank’s net asset value, which means deducting outstanding debt and borrowing from the assets owned.

 

Coming in at the top 10 banks are:

 

1. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China
2. China Construction Bank, China
3. Agricultural Bank of China, China
4. Bank of China, China
5. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan

6. HSBC, UK
7. JPMorgan Chase, USA
8. Bank of America, USA
9. BNP Paribas, France
10. Crédit Agricole, France

 

For an interactive spreadsheet of the top banks in the world take a look below

Top 50 Banks in the world (by Country)

Top 50 Banks in the world (by Country)1

Most of the listings of banks do not report the top 50 banks in the world by revenue, but rather list the banks by assets or by market capitalization. It requires purchased research from investment advisors to get this information. Three rating agencies Moody’s, Standard & Poor, and Fitch report regularly with the universal reporting system.

To measure how rich a bank is, analysts usually measure the bank’s net asset value, which means deducting outstanding debt and borrowing from the assets owned. In this method, the top 5 richest banks in the world, leaving off the same four Chinese banks, list three from Japan and one each from USA and France. This is largely because Japanese banks are highly structured and very conservative.

 

Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were indications that the world economy was going to grow by around 2.5%, and banks generally would be growing at that rate or slightly faster. However, the drastic effects of the pandemic have made it extremely unlikely that there will be any growth at all, and have also made it very difficult to predict which banks will survive the downgrading better than others.

The only way to attempt is to consider which countries were performing best, like Taiwan, Japan and Australia, compared to the worst affected, like most of Europe, USA, Brazil and Mexico. It is expected that the medium and long-term effects of the pandemic will show up over the next 18 months and share prices generally will show the results.

 

 

In one of the best analyses of the likely outcome of the pandemic on the top banks in the world, Forbes analysis Anton Guera has written a comprehensive report. His bottom line is that “Potential threats to all banks on the Forbes Global 2000 come from the looming crunch in business activity and spiking distress worldwide.”

 

Investment Banks

Investment banks operate in a special sector of the finance industry, offering management of client’s money rather than commercial activities. Due to the massive size of the US economy, all five of the top 5 investment banks in the world are American. If the rest of the world is ranked without the USA, then Switzerland with three is the largest followed by Japan, France, UK and Canada with two each.

 

Commercial Banks

Commercial banks offer private and corporate customers the full range of services, such as checking accounts, mortgages and loans, deposit accounts and so on. The top 5 commercial banks in North America include four in the USA and one Canadian. In Europe, the UK, Germany and France share the top 5 commercial banks for now, but Brexit may change this as several larger banks are considering moving into the EU from London.

 

Want to know more about the richest banks in the world? Click HERE

About the Author: Henry Kaye

Henry has extensive experience in business with a background in finance and investment, as well as high-tech computing, across three continents. In his career, he worked for several of the largest enterprises in the world, as well as several start-ups. In content writing, his brief is to try to bring new knowledge to our readers, with due diligence for factual, clear and understandable articles.   You can contact Henry at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henry-kaye-dlc/

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