Best Banks

When considering what bank to do business with, it is helpful to know which banks are the market leaders. Market leaders in the banking world can be distinguished by the amount of tier-one capital, the amount of assets, the amount of profit, and the amount of deposits. The following lists display this information, for the benefit of the consumer and/or businessperson.

The first list, below, represents the top ten banking groups in the world ranked by tier-one capital in 2004 (U.S. Dollars):

1. Citigroup — 73 billion

2. JP Morgan Chase — 69 billion

3. HSBC — 67 billion

4. Bank of America — 64 billion

5. Credit Agricole Group — 63 billion

6. Royal Bank of Scotland — 43 billion

7. Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group — 40 billion

8. Mizuho Financial Group — 39 billion

9. HBOS — 36 billion

10. BNP Paribas — 35 billion

The next list, below, shows the top ten banking groups in the world ranked by assets in 2003 (U.S. Dollars):

1. Mizuho Financial Group — 1,265 billion

2. Citigroup — 1,097 billion

3. Allianz — 1,002 billion

4. UBS — 907 billion

5. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group — 903 billion

6. Deutsche Bank — 892 billion

7. Fannie Mae — 888 billion

8. ING Group — 843 billion

9. BNP Paribas — 835 billion

10. Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group — 832 billion

The list below ranks the top ten bank holding companies in the world ranked by profit in 2003 (U.S. Dollars):

1. Citigroup — 20 billion

2. Bank of America — 15 billion

3. HSBC — 10 billion

4. Royal Bank of Scotland — 8 billion

5. Wells Fargo — 7 billion

6. JP Morgan Chase — 7 billion

7. UBS AG — 6 billion

8. Wachovia — 5 billion

9. Morgan Stanley — 5 billion

10. Merrill Lynch — 4 billion

The following list displays the top nine bank holding companies in the U.S. ranked by deposits as of June 30, 2004. These are U.S. deposits only.

1. Bank of America Corp. — 526 billion

2. Wells Fargo & Co. — 256 billion

3. Wachovia Corp. — 238 billion

4. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. — 377 billion

5. Citigroup Inc. — 193 billion

6. U.S. Bancorp — 112 billion

7. SunTrust Banks, Inc. — 78 billion

8. BB&T Corporation — 67 billion

9. National City Corp. — 64 billion

The consumer and/or businessperson would be well-advised to take such rankings into consideration when deciding which financial institution, among many, he or she should establish a banking relationship with.