The World’s 25 Most Profitable Banks in 2008

The following are the 25 most profitable banks in the world based on their 2008 earnings as per The Banker magazine:

Rank	Bank	Country	Ticker
1	ICBC	China
2	China Construction Bank Corp	China
3	Santander Central Hispano	Spain	STD
4	Bank of China	China
5	BBVA	Spain	BBV
6	HSBC Holdings	UK	HBC
7	Barclays Bank	UK	BCS
8	Agricultural Bank of China	China
9	UniCredit	Italy
10	Royal Bank of Canada	Canada	RY
11	Societe General	France	SCGLY.PK
12	Commonwealth Bank Group	Australia
13	BNP Paribas	France	BNPQY.PK
14	Dexia	Belgium
15	Credit Agricole Group	France
16	Bank of Communications	China
17	Mizuho Financial Group	Japan	MFG
18	Standard Chartered	UK
19	Nordea Group	Sweden
20	Banco Bradesco	Brazil	BBD
21	Westpac Banking Corporation	Australia	WBK
22	Bank of America Corp	US	BAC
23	Sberbank	Russia
24	Toronto-Dominion Bank	Canada	TD
25	US Bancorp	US	USB

Not surprisingly, Chinese banks dominates this list with a total of five listings including three of the top five.. ICBC of China ranks the most profitable in the world with a profit of $21.2B. Banco Santander (STD) of Spain came at third with a profit of $15.8B. Among the British banks , Barclays (BCS) and HSBC (HBC) are on this list because they are in relatively better shape than peers like Llyods (LYG), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), etc. Royal Bank of Canada (RY) ranked number ten. Royal Bank is the most profitable of all the large Canadian banks and is a long-term consistent performer. Banco Bradesco of Brazil (BBD) made it to this list at number two beating competitor Banco Itau Unibanco (ITUB). Among the big four Australian banks, Westpac (WBK) and Commonwealth Bank Group are on this list. Bank of America Corp (BAC) and US Bank (USB) are the only two US banks in the rankings but came in at the bottom of the list mirroring the performance of the housing market and the U.S. economy in general.

Comments

[TWELVEtowns:]

BANK OF AMERICA $32 PRICE TARGET!!!!

www.scribd.com/doc/170...

Jul 02 01:37 PM

[a. palmer jr.:]

Not a surprise to me that the Chinese banks are at the top of the list....they have all of our money!

Jul 04 12:32 AM

[Wreckdiver:]

BCS Preferred Stock is an excellent buy.

Jul 06 11:41 AM