SAFEST COMMERCIAL BANKS 2014

European Leaders


Europeans dominate Global Finance’s Safest Commercial Banks ranking.


Fifteen European banks are included in Global Finance’s first ranking of the 50 safest commercial banks in the world.  Canada and the US together contribute the same amount (eight from the US and seven from Canada).

Global Finance’s ranking of the World’s Safest Commercial Banks comprises banks that are not majority-owned by a government or state agencies: A bank that is 50.1% government-owned is not eligible for inclusion. The other criteria are the same as those for the global ranking: Banks must be among the biggest 500 in the world when ranked by asset size, and they must hold ratings from at least two of the three major credit-rating agencies.

Many of the banks the Global Safest List enjoy some support from governments or government agencies, including all of the top-10-rated banks in this year’s ranking—all of whom are European. Stripping out those that have government support creates some interesting results.

None of the Chinese or Korean banks that are included in the Global 50 are eligible for inclusion in the Safest Commercial Banks listing, and no private-sector bank from those two countries scores highly enough to be included.

In contrast, four Japanese banks are included among the Safest Commercial Banks, although none scores highly enough to reach the Global Top 50 list.

Stripping out government-owned banks makes room for three US banks that do not score highly enough for inclusion in the global list: Wells Fargo (ranked 34th), State Street (ranked 39th) and Northern Trust (ranked 42nd).

Twelve of the 19 European banks that appear in the Global Safest 50 Banks are ineligible for inclusion in the Commercial rankings because of their ownership structures, but the seven that remain are joined by eight other European commercial banks that did not score highly enough for inclusion in the Global Safest list. These eight include major institutions, such as BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered and France’s Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel.

The highest-rated bank in Latin America, Chile’s state-owned BancoEstado, is not eligible for inclusion in the Commercial Rankings. Neither is the highest-rated bank in the Middle East, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, which is majority-owned by Abu Dhabi government agencies.

Canada’s TD Bank Group leads the Commercial Bank listing, although the three big Singaporean banks hold the same ratings (two at AA- and one at AA+). TD Bank takes first position as a result of its larger asset size.


Six banks follow with two AA- ratings and one at AA, with Rabobank leading the pack, again owing to its larger asset size.

Three A+ ratings—generating a score of 18 points—are needed to assure inclusion among the Top 50 Commercial Banks. The four lowest-ranking banks among the top 50 each have 17 points. Four other banks scored 17 but are not included, owing to their smaller asset sizes: SABB and Al Rajhi from Saudi Arabia, Lichtenstein’s LGT Bank and Frost National Bank in the US.

In contrast to the cutoff of 18 points, a score of 20 points was needed to assure inclusion in the Global Top 50, with 19 being sufficient for banks with large asset sizes.

Despite the removal from the Commercial Banks’ list of institutions whose high ratings result from state support, many large and well-known commercial banks fail to score highly enough for inclusion in the top 50. Banks such as Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander still fall short.

NEXT PAGE: TOP 50 SAFEST COMMERCIAL BANKS OF 2014

 

SAFEST COMMERCIAL BANKS 2014

Rank
BANK
Fitch
Moody’s
S&P
Total Score
Assets $mn
Statement Date
Country

1

TD Bank Group

AA-

Aa1

AA-

23

824,916

10/31/13

Canada

2

DBS Bank

AA-

Aa1

AA-

23

317,729

12/31/13

Singapore

3

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation

AA-

Aa1

AA-

23

267,485

12/31/13

Singapore

4

United Overseas Bank

AA-

Aa1

AA-

23

224,634

12/31/13

Singapore

5

Rabobank

AA-

Aa2

AA-

22

929,719

12/31/13

Netherlands

6

Royal Bank of Canada

AA

Aa3

AA-

22

823,278

10/31/13

Canada

7

National Australia Bank

AA-

Aa2

AA-

22

752,585

9/30/13

Australia

8

Commonwealth Bank of Australia

AA-

Aa2

AA-

22

698,745

6/30/13

Australia

9

ANZ Group

AA-

Aa2

AA-

22

654,432

9/30/13

Australia

10

Westpac

AA-

Aa2

AA-

22

648,485

9/30/13

Australia

11

Nordea

AA-

Aa3

AA-

21

869,444

12/31/13

Sweden

12

Bank of Nova Scotia

AA-

Aa2

A+

21

711,350

10/31/13

Canada

13

Svenska Handelsbanken

AA-

Aa3

AA-

21

387,591

12/31/13

Sweden

14

Hang Seng Bank

A+

Aa2

AA-

21

147,511

12/31/13

Hong Kong

15

Caisse centrale Desjardins

AA-

Aa2

A+

21

32,691

12/31/13

Canada

16

HSBC

AA-

Aa3

A+

20

2,671,318

12/31/13

United Kingdom

17

Bank of Montreal

AA-

Aa3

A+

20

513,867

10/31/13

Canada

18

CIBC

AA-

Aa3

A+

20

381,015

10/31/13

Canada

19

HSBC France

AA-

A1

AA-

20

288,089

12/31/13

France

20

Pohjola Bank

A+

Aa3

AA-

20

139,265

12/31/13

Finland

21

CoBank

AA-

N/R

AA-

20

97,644

12/31/13

United States

22

AgriBank

AA-

N/R

AA-

20

87,726

12/31/13

United States

23

National Bank of Kuwait

AA-

Aa3

A+

20

65,958

12/31/13

Kuwait

24

AgFirst

AA-

N/R

AA-

20

28,844

12/31/13

United States

25

DZ Bank

A+

A1

AA-

19

533,689

12/31/13

Germany

26

BNY Mellon

AA-

A1

A+

19

374,310

12/31/13

United States

27

U.S. Bancorp

AA-

A1

A+

19

364,021

12/31/13

United States

28

Qatar National Bank

A+

Aa3

A+

19

121,837

12/31/13

Qatar

29

Samba Financial Group

A+

Aa3

A+

19

54,676

12/31/13

Saudi Arabia

30

Deutsche Apotheker- und Ärztebank

A+

A1

AA-

19

47,845

12/31/13

Germany

31

Banco de Chile*

N/R

Aa3

A+

18.5

49,356

12/31/13

Chile

32

BNP Paribas

A+

A1

A+

18

2,482,608

12/31/13

France

33

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ*

A

Aa3

A+

18

1,889,476

9/30/13

Japan

34

Wells Fargo

AA-

A2

A+

18

1,527,015

12/31/13

United States

35

Standard Chartered

AA-

A2

A+

18

674,380

12/31/13

United Kingdom

36

Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel

A+

Aa3

A

18

551,269

12/31/13

France

37

SEB

A+

A1

A+

18

386,817

12/31/13

Sweden

38

Swedbank

A+

A1

A+

18

283,447

12/31/13

Sweden

39

State Street

A+

A1

A+

18

243,291

12/31/13

United States

40

National Bank of Canada

A+

Aa3

A

18

179,996

10/31/13

Canada

41

Shizuoka Bank

A

Aa3

A+

18

103,113

3/31/14

Japan

42

Northern Trust

AA-

A2

A+

18

102,947

12/31/13

United States

43

Al Rajhi Bank

A+

A1

A+

18

74,632

12/31/13

Saudi Arabia

44

Suncorp Metway

A+

A1

A+

18

57,409

6/30/13

Australia

45

Riyad Bank

A+

A1

A+

18

54,732

12/31/13

Saudi Arabia

46

Banco Santander Chile

A+

Aa3

A

18

51,734

12/31/12

Chile

47

Norinchukin Bank*

N/R

A1

A+

17

845,580

12/31/13

Japan

48

DnB

N/R

A1

A+

17

351,217

12/31/13

Norway

49

Shinkin Central Bank

N/R

A1

A+

17

325,217

6/30/13

Japan

50

WGZ Bank

A+

A1

N/R

17

125,397

12/31/13

Germany

  • Source for ratings: Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investors Service
  • Soruce for Reporting Assets: Fitch Solutions, except for * Moody’s Investors Service, and ** bank’s financial reports                     
  • Ratings current as of August 14, 2014    

                                                                              

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