World’s Safest Banks 2016: Europe Top 50

Germany’s fiscal probity shines in 10 of the top spots on our annual list.


The safest banks in Europe are located in Northern and Western Europe, with Germany contributing ten of the Top 50 banks and France nine.

The safest nine European banks are the same nine that lead our Global Safest Banks ranking.  All are state-owned or enjoy official sponsorship. Germany’s KfW heads the list, followed by Zürcher Kantonalbank and Landwirtschafliche Rentenbank.

Among commercial banks—those that are less than 50%-owned by state interests—DZ tops the list, followed by Svenska Handelsbanken and Deutsche Apotheker und Ärztebank. 

The enduring effects of the European banking crisis can be seen in the absence from the Safest 50 of any banks from Portugal, Spain and Italy, many of which had previously enjoyed AA ratings and were among the safest in the world. Banco Santander is closest southern European bank to qualifying for the Top 50, narrowly missing out with three A- ratings.

The United Kingdom contributes only five banks, but all of those are commercial banks that do not benefit from state-ownership or official sponsorship, as do many of the French and German banks. It is indicative of the changing fortunes of British banking that two of the British five are mutual building societies (one of which, Coventry Building Society has only $50.5 billion in assets), while Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and Barclays fail to qualify. Lloyds comes close, however, with three A- ratings, the same as Santander.

Five Dutch banks rank high enough to reach the Top 50, including the three commercial banks that dominate Dutch banking—Rabobank, ING and ABN Amro. The two state-sponsored banks, BNG and Waterschapsbank, rank near the top of the list at 5th and 6th.

Scandinavia contributes 10 of the Safest 50 European banks, and half of these are Swedish.

Our ranking of the Safest European banks extends to Eastern Europe and to the Balkans (though not to the countries of the former Soviet Union). Three banks from these regions score highly enough for inclusion in the Top 50, two from the Czech Republic and one from Poland (Poland’s Bank Pekao narrowly misses out).

To be eligible for inclusion in the Safest European bank rankings, banks must have two or three ratings from the three major rating agencies and be among the 500 biggest banks in the world. (In practice, no European bank that was outside the biggest 500 scored highly enough to be included in the Safest 50.) 

 

THE 50 SAFEST european BANKS

Rank

Group Name

Country

Ratings

Total Score

Assets

$ mn

Statement

Date

Fitch

Moody’s

S&P

1

KfW

Germany

AAA

Aaa

AAA

30

547,603

12/31/15

2

Zürcher Kantonalbank

Switzerland

AAA

Aaa

AAA

30

155,640

12/31/15

3

Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank

Germany

AAA

Aaa

AAA

30

101,571

12/31/15

4

L-Bank

Germany

AAA

Aaa

AAA

30

79,660

12/31/15

5

Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten

Netherlands

AA+

Aaa

AAA

29

162,777

12/31/15

6

Nederalndse Waterschapsbank

Netherlands

N/R

Aaa

AAA

29

91,720

6/30/15

7

NRW.BANK

Germany

AAA

Aa1

AA-

26

151,885

12/31/15

8

Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat

Luxembourg

N/R

Aa2

AA+

24.5

48,309

6/30/15

9

Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations

France

AA

Aa2

AA

24

169,672

12/31/15

10

DZ Bank

Germany

AA-

Aa1

AA-

23

444,574

12/31/15

11

Svenska Handelsbanken

Sweden

AA

Aa2

AA-

23

298,803

12/31/15

12

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise

Switzerland

N/R

Aa2

AA

23

43,373

12/31/15

13

Deutsche Apotheker und Ärztebank

Germany

AA-

Aa1

AA-

23

39,678

12/31/15

14

Société de Financement Local (SFIL)

France

AA-

Aa3

AA

22

91,108

12/31/15

15

Pictet & Cie

Switzerland

AA-

Aa2

N/R

21.5

34,519

12/31/14

16

Rabobank

Netherlands

AA-

Aa2

A+

21

729,856

12/31/15

17

Nordea

Sweden

AA-

Aa3

AA-

21

704,266

12/31/15

18

Swedbank

Sweden

AA-

Aa3

AA-

21

254,580

12/31/15

19

Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe
(Sparkassen)

Germany

A+

Aa2

N/R

20

1,353,868

12/31/14

20

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken

Sweden

AA-

Aa3

A+

20

295,702

12/31/15

21

DNB ASA

Norway

N/R

Aa2

A+

20

254,171

12/31/15

22

HSBC France

France

AA-

A1

AA-

20

183,406

12/31/15

23

OP Corporate Bank (formerly Pohjola)

Finland

N/R

Aa3

AA-

20

61,062

12/31/15

24

Münchener Hypothekenbank

Germany

AA-

Aa3

N/R

20

41,479

12/31/15

25

LGT Bank

Liechtenstein

N/R

Aa2

A+

20

30,889

12/31/15

26

BBBank

Germany

AA-

N/R

AA-

20

10,136

12/31/14

27

TeamBank Nuernberg

Germany

AA-

N/R

AA-

20

9,408

12/31/15

28

HSBC Holdings

United Kingdom

AA-

A1

A

18

2,409,656

12/31/15

29

UBS

Switzerland

A

Aa3

A+

18

950,767

12/31/15

30

Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel

France

A+

Aa3

A

18

499,200

12/31/15

31

BNP Paribas

France

A+

A1

A

17

2,171,141

12/31/15

32

ING

Netherlands

A+

A1

A

17

912,932

12/31/15

33

ABN AMRO Bank

Netherlands

A+

A1

A

17

424,950

12/31/15

34

BGL BNP Paribas

Luxembourg

A+

A1

A

17

47,049

12/31/15

35

Crédit Agricole

France

A

A1

A

16

1,849,602

12/31/15

36

Nationwide Building Society

United Kingdom

A

A1

A

16

297,337

4/4/16

37

Länsförsäkringar Bank

Sweden

NR

A1

A

15.5

29,572

12/31/15

38

Societe Generale

France

A

A2

A

15

1,452,794

12/31/15

39

Standard Chartered

United Kingdom

A+

A1

BBB+

15

639,792

12/31/15

40

Danske Bank

Denmark

A

A2

A

15

482,120

12/31/15

41

KBC

Belgium

A-

A1

A

15

236,936

12/31/15

42

Groupe BPCE

France

A

A2

A

14

1,270,044

12/31/15

43

Coventry Building Society

United Kingdom

A

A2

N/R

14

50,555

12/31/15

44

Komerční banka

Czech Republic

A-

A2

A

14

35,915

12/31/15

45

Schroders

United  Kingdom

A+

A3

N/R

14

26,823

12/31/15

46

Sparebank 1 SR-Bank

Norway

A-

A1

N/R

14

21,801

12/31/15

47

Nykredit Realkredit

Denmark

A

Baa1

A

13

202,605

12/31/15

48

Česká spořitelna

Czech Republic

A-

A2

A-

13

38,655

12/31/15

49

La Banque Postale

France

A-

N/R

A

12.5

238,114

12/31/15

50

ING Bank Slaski

Poland

A

A3

N/R

12.5

27,913

12/31/15

Europe is defined to include Eastern European and Balkans but not FSU.     Asset data from Fitch.

 

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