World’s Biggest Banks 2019

Economic headwinds and uncertainty are prompting many banks to restructure—whether their balance sheets are growing or not.

This year, Chinese institutions dominate our ranking of the World’s Largest Banks. This should come as no surprise, given that the People’s Bank of China has shifted its goal from reducing leverage in the banking sector and the overall economy to maintaining economic expansion above the government’s 6% GDP growth target through fiscal and monetary stimulus.

Globally, asset growth among the top 50 has expanded slightly. With $24 trillion in combined assets, the Chinese banks represent 33% of the total, up from 32% a year ago. Agricultural Bank of China stands out, having risen 14 positions since last year. The 13 Chinese banks listed here include four institutions with $3 trillion or more each in assets.

European banks, too, are well-represented, with 21 institutions, many of which experienced modest asset growth in the past year. However, the balance sheets of Italy’s Intesa San Paolo and UniCredit have declined slightly, reflecting the challenges these banks face in generating loan growth in a struggling domestic economy.

Expectations of slowing global GDP growth present considerable challenges for loan portfolio expansion and profitability, and most banks are re-evaluating their strategy and implementing organizational changes to address the current business climate while cutting costs. Deutsche Bank continues to rationalize its businesses; some balance sheet contraction caused it to slip one position. Earlier this year, Deutsche announced a major restructuring that will downsize its investment banking business and includes an overall headcount reduction of 18,000 by 2022.

In Asia, HSBC held on to seventh place; it has announced plans to eliminate some 14,000 employees as part of a broad restructuring. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group remains at fifth place and is the largest of the four Japanese banks in our rankings. Sumitomo also held steady. Mizuho Financial Group slipped one position while Norinchukin Bank fell six places, pulled down by balance sheet contraction. ANZ Group rose three spots, overtaking Commonwealth Bank of Australia as the country’s largest.

In North America, strong balance sheet growth pushed Royal Bank of Canada up 10 places, making it the largest Canadian bank, while Bank of Nova Scotia rose three positions. Two US banks maintained their rank among the 10 largest: JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America. Overall, the US placed six institutions among the top 50, unchanged from 2018.

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WORLD’S BIGGEST BANKS 2019 —Global Top 50

Rank	Company Name	Country	Assets ($ Mil.)
1	Industrial and Commercial Bank of China	China	4,041,958
2	China Construction Bank	China	3,388,690
3	Agricultural Bank of China	China	3,299,208
4	Bank of China	China	3,103,353
5	Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group	Japan	2,721,762
6	J.P. Morgan Chase	United States	2,622,532
7	HSBC Holdings	United Kingdom	2,558,124
8	China Development Bank	China	2,360,984
9	Bank of America	United States	2,354,507
10	BNP Paribas	France	2,337,575
11	Credit Agricole	France	2,124,447
12	Citigroup	United States	1,917,383
13	Wells Fargo	United States	1,866,823
14	Mizuho Financial Group	Japan	1,755,591
15	Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group	Japan	1,749,858
16	Banco Santander	SPAIN	1,671,450
17	Deutsche Bank	Germany	1,544,157
18	Societe Generale	France	1,499,820
19	BPCE	France	1,459,156
20	Barclays	UK	1,438,761
21	Bank of Communications	China	1,388,024
22	Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (Sparkassen)	Germany	1,438,067
23	Royal Bank of Canada	Canada	1,021,770
24	ING Group	Netherlands	1,016,005
25	Lloyds Banking Group	UK	1,012,591
26	TD Bank	Canada	1,005,270
27	Agricultural Development Bank of China	China	996,451
28	China Merchants Bank	China	984,347
29	Industrial Bank	China	985,448
30	UBS	Switzerland	958,055
31	UniCredit	Italy	952,365
32	Norinchukin Bank	Japan	951,192
33	The Goldman Sachs Group	United States	931,796
34	Shanghai Pudong Development Bank	China	917,789
35	Intesa Sanpaolo	Italy	902,256
36	China CITIC Bank	China	885,264
37	The Royal Bank of Scotland	UK	881,367
38	China Minsheng Banking	China	874,773
39	Morgan Stanley	United States	853,531
40	Credit Suisse Group	Switzerland	783,728
41	Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria	Spain	775,080
42	The Bank of Nova Scotia	Canada	759,772
43	Australia and New Zealand Banking Grp.	Australia	694,368
44	Commonwealth Bank of Australia	Australia	682,915
45	Rabobank	Netherlands	676,287
46	Standard Chartered	UK	660,297
47	China Everbright Bank	China	635,828
48	Nordea Bank	Finland	631,583
49	Westpac Banking Corporation	Australia	619,915
50	Bank of Montreal	Canada	617,358
Asset figures from Fitch, Moody’s, and company reports. Ratings valid as of Aug. 31, 2019.