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Global Finance
Names the World’s 50 Safest Banks 2013
New York, August 26, 2013
- Bank ratings are not yet showing the impact of either the slowdown in emerging economies or the more sustained recovery in developed countries. It is within this context that
Global Finance
announces it’s
22nd Annual Ranking of the World’s 50 Safest Banks
.
Some banking market instability seems to be moving from the West to certain countries in the East, and companies are keeping a close eye on the solidity and reliability of their counterparties worldwide.
Canadian banks are once again the best performing in North America, with six banks in the top 50. But now US institutions are catching up, also boasting six banks in the top 50. Banks from Singapore are the strongest in Asia, as are those from Chile in Latin America. Once again the safest banks in Europe have explicit guarantees from AAA-rated governments. Development banks represent a large contingent of the Top 50.
The size threshold for banks is higher this year vs. 2012, with some strong local and global banks not qualifying for the list owing to their asset size, not their ratings.
Long-term ratings are still the most valuable tool for assessing a bank’s reliability, especially when used in a comparative way.
With the Top 20 banks unchanged as of an April 2013 update to the 2012 rankings, the
Global Finance
World’s 50 Safest Banks list shows that most of the top echelon of banks are truly worthy of the distinction of being named World’s Safest Bank.
“In
Global Finance
’s Safest Banks ranking, the number of emerging markets banks in the top 50 is slowly growing. The number of triple-A banks has not changed and it is pretty limited, as many countries have lost their top sovereign rating and no new ones have reached that level yet,” says
Global Finance
publisher Joseph D. Giarraputo. “This ranking offers companies an objective tool for evaluating the world’s banks—both globally and by region,” Giarraputo notes. “Those institutions that top our ranking of the Safest Banks continue to show strength in trying times.”
Global Finance
’s annual ranking of World’s 50 Safest Banks has been a recognized and trusted standard of creditworthiness for the entire financial world for more than 20 years. Winners were selected through an evaluation of long-term credit ratings—from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch—and total assets of the 500 largest banks worldwide.
The full results of this exclusive survey will be published in the October issue of
Global Finance
. The banks ranked 1-10 will be presented awards at a special ceremony to be held during the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, DC in October.
WORLD'S 50 SAFEST BANKS 2013
Rank
Group Name
Country
1
KfW
Germany
2
Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten
Netherlands
3
Zürcher Kantonalbank
Switzerland
4
Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank
Germany
5
L-Bank
Germany
6
Nederlandse Waterschapsbank
Netherlands
7
Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations
France
8
NRW.Bank
Germany
9
Banque et Caisse d’Epargne de l’Etat
Luxembourg
10
Rabobank
Netherlands
11
TD Bank Group
Canada
12
DBS Bank
Singapore
13
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp
Singapore
14
United Overseas Bank
Singapore
15
Royal Bank of Canada
Canada
16
National Australia Bank
Australia
17
Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Australia
18
Westpac
Australia
19
ANZ Group
Australia
20
Nordea
Sweden
21
Bank of Nova Scotia
Canada
22
Svenska Handelsbanken
Sweden
23
Hang Seng Bank
Hong Kong
24
Caisse centrale Desjardins
Canada
25
HSBC
United Kingdom
26
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (Sparkasse)
Germany
27
China Development Bank
China
28
Bank of Montreal
Canada
29
CIBC
Canada
30
Agricultural Development Bank of China
China
31
BNY Mellon
United States
32
Pohjola
Finland
33
CoBank
United States
34
AgriBank
United States
35
National Bank of Abu Dhabi
UAE
36
Korea Finance Corporation
South Korea
37
National Bank of Kuwait
Kuwait
38
BancoEstado
Chile
39
AgFirst
United States
40
DZ Bank
Germany
41
U.S. Bancorp
United States
42
Industrial Bank of Korea
South Korea
43
Korea Development Bank
South Korea
44
Qatar National Bank
Qatar
45
Northern Trust
United States
46
Samba Financial Group
Saudi Arabia
47
Bank of Taiwan
Taiwan
48
Banco de Chile
Chile
49
LGT Bank
Liechten
50
Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ
Japan
The following institutions qualified for inclusion in the list but did not make the ranking owing to their total assets: Wells Fargo, Standard Chartered, Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel, SEB, DnB, Swedbank, State Street, National Bank of Canada, Shizuoka Bank, National Commercial Bank, Al Rajhi Bank, Suncorp Metway, Banco Santander Chile, Riyad Bank.