The New World Banking Order

Once upon a time, Citibank was the world’s biggest bank in term of value. Back then, names such as UBS, BNP Paribas, Deutsche, RBS, Fortis, and HSBC were always in the top 20 list of big banks. That is however history. The latest list of big banks in terms of market value is now filled with banks from the Eastern and Southern hemispheres. Check out the list of the world’s largest banks and compare to the list from a year ago. The only reason why JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are still in the top ten is because of mergers, with Wachovia and Bear Sterns respectively. RBS, despite buying into ABN Amro dropped from 10th to 43rd in the rankings. Similarly, Bank of America dropped from second to 27th probably because they acquired the troubled Merrill Lynch.

March 2009 (January 2007 in brackets)
1. (4) Industrial & Commercial Bank (China)
2. (7) China Construction Bank (China)
3. (6) Bank of China (China)
4. (3) HSBC (UK)
5. (5) JPMorgan Chase (US)
6. (9) Mitsubishi UFJ (Japan)
7. (12) Banco Santander (Spain)
8. Bank of Communications (HK)
9. (11) Wells Fargo (US)
10. Royal Bank of Canada
11. China Merchants Bank (China)
12. Wespac (Australia)
13. (14) BNP Paribas (France)
14. Banco Itau (Brazil)
15. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Australia)
16. Credit Suisse (Switzerland)
17. (16) Intesa Sanpaolo (Italy)
18. Banco Bradesco (Brazil)
19. (8) UBS (Switzerland)
20. Sumitomo Mitsui (Japan)

26. National Australia Bank (Australia)
27. (2) Bank of America (US)
29. Standard Chartered (UK)
32. Credit Agricole (France)
33. Al Rajhi Bank (Saudi Arabia)
41. Deutsche Bank (Germany)
43. (10) Royal Bank of Scotland (UK)
49. DBS (Singapore)
52. National Bank of Kuwait (Kuwait)
61. OCBC (Singapore)
65. Public Bank (Malaysia)
78. Malayan Banking (Malaysia)
83. CIMB (Malaysia)
92. (1) Citigroup (US)
119. Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Indonesia)
120. Bangkok Bank (Thailand)