WORLD'S SAFEST BANKS IN AUSTRALASIA 2012

GLOBAL FINANCE names the World's Safest Banks 2012 in Australasia

NEW YORK, August 16, 2012 — Global Finance magazine ( GF mag.com) has named the Safest Banks in Australasia in an exclusive survey to be published in the October 2012 issue. 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.

For the first time this year, a bank from New Zealand made it onto Global Finance ’s World’s 50 Safest Banks list, and the regional list below, because their assets qualified them as one of the 500 largest banks in the world.

The full report evaluates the safest banks in Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North America, Latin America and Australasia.

"More than ever, customers around the world are viewing long-term creditworthiness as the key feature of the banks with which they do business," says Joseph D. Giarraputo, publisher of Global Finance . "These banks have solid capital positions and superior risk management capabilities."

For editorial information please contact: Andrea Fiano, Editor, email: afiano@gfmag.com

PR date: Global Finance Magazine August 16, 2012 / Ratings current as of July 30, 2012