BankersAlmanac.com, a site run run by the information database provider Reed Elsevier, tracks the world’s top banks based on assets.
The World’s Top 10 Banks ranked by Total Assets:
| Rank | Bank | Country | Ticker | Assets (in US$Mil.) | Dividend Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Bank of Scotland | UK | (RBS) | 3,483,179 | N/A |
| 2 | Deutsche Bank | Germany | (DB) | 3,068,724 | 1.04% |
| 3 | Barclays Bank | UK | (BCS) | 2,977,491 | N/A |
| 4 | BNP Paribas | France | (BNPQY.PK) | 2,477,272 | 1.76% |
| 5 | Credit Agricole Group | France | 2,067,577 | ||
| 6 | UBS | Switzerland | (UBS) | 1,881,246 | N/A |
| 7 | JP Morgan Chase & Co | US | (JPM) | 1,746,242 | 4.11% |
| 8 | Societe Generale | France | (SCGLY.PK) | 1,566,904 | 2.25% |
| 9 | Bank of America Corp | US | (BAC) | 1,471,631 | 0.23% |
| 10 | UniCredit | Italy | 1,456,892 |
Note: Data compiled from banks’ balance sheet information included on Bankersalmanac.com on 5th August 2009
European banks dominate the above list. Royal Bank of Scotland ranks the number one bank in terms of assets held. Currently the British government is the largest owner of the bank and due to severe losses and conditions of government bailout, RBS stopped paying dividends. The total assets held by RBS is more than double the size of assets held by Bank of America. Deutsche Bank has a large global presence but now offers a low yield.
Among the large French banks, BNP Paribas fared the credit crisis better than Societe Generale. And Societe Generale took a $7.2 B loss last year due to the rogue trader Jérôme Kerviel. US-based banks JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America are two of the so-called “too big to fail” banks. JP Morgan Chase is in a much better shape than Bank of America. As shown above, JPM also has the highest dividend yield.
