This year’s ranking reflects dramatic balance-sheet declines at some of the world’s biggest banks.
Global Finance’s World’s Safest Banks 2023 ranking offers a revealing snapshot of a watershed period in global banking. After years of expansion, aggregate assets of the 50 largest banks contracted 2% to $89 trillion (in most cases, our data captures year-end asset figures as of December 2022).
As many countries struggle to boost their sluggish economies, balance-sheet growth remains a challenge for their banking systems, given declining business volumes and lower demand for credit from retail and corporate clients in some jurisdictions. Underscoring the decline, the threshold for inclusion in this year’s ranking fell 3.7% to $736.5 billion, while 37 banks exceeded $1 trillion in assets, down from 40 last year.
Once again, Chinese banks take the top four spots, placing a total of 15 institutions in our ranking. The top four are all state-owned banks that facilitate Beijing’s economic policy through massive infrastructure projects and other initiatives; their balance sheets grew approximately 3% on average in 2022. The remaining 11 Chinese banks posted negative growth in aggregate, possibly reflecting China’s slowing growth rate: GDP expanded only 3% last year, well below its 5.5% stated target for 2022.
The banking sector in other countries that recorded less than 3% GDP growth, including the US, Japan, Germany and France—also felt the effects. Other banks suffering notable shifts in this year’s rankings include Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo, which fell four places as its balance sheet contracted by 13.9% year-over-year; and the UK’s NatWest Group, which fell three spots, reflecting a 17.3% asset-base decline. BBVA is a new entrant; and Credit Suisse disappears from our ranking, reflecting its March takeover by UBS.
| 50 Biggest Global Banks 2023 | ||||
| Rank | Company Name | Domicile | Total Assets (USD million) |
Report Date |
| 1 | Industrial and Commercial Bank of China | China | 5,669,862 | 12/31/22 |
| 2 | China Construction Bank | China | 4,953,037 | 12/31/22 |
| 3 | Agricultural Bank of China | China | 4,880,466 | 12/31/22 |
| 4 | Bank of China | China | 4,161,910 | 12/31/22 |
| 5 | JPMorgan Chase | United States | 3,665,743 | 12/31/22 |
| 6 | Bank of America Corporation | United States | 3,051,375 | 12/31/22 |
| 7 | HSBC Holdings | Uk | 2,966,530 | 12/31/22 |
| 8 | BNP Paribas | France | 2,843,955 | 12/31/22 |
| 9 | Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group | Japan | 2,815,356 | 3/31/23 |
| 10 | China Development Bank | China | 2,611,377 | 12/31/22 |
| 11 | Credit Agricole | France | 2,537,568 | 12/31/22 |
| 12 | Citigroup | United States | 2,416,676 | 12/31/22 |
| 13 | Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group | Japan | 1,923,395 | 3/31/23 |
| 14 | Wells Fargo | United States | 1,881,016 | 12/31/22 |
| 15 | Bank of Communications | China | 1,859,779 | 12/31/22 |
| 16 | Banco Santander | Spain | 1,851,310 | 12/31/22 |
| 17 | Mizuho Financial Group | Japan | 1,838,123 | 3/31/23 |
| 18 | Barclays | Uk | 1,826,731 | 12/31/22 |
| 19 | Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe | Germany | 1,755,653 | 12/31/21 |
| 20 | BPCE | France | 1,633,107 | 12/31/22 |
| 21 | Societe Generale | France | 1,585,839 | 12/31/22 |
| 22 | China Merchants Bank | China | 1,458,480 | 12/31/22 |
| 23 | Goldman Sachs Group | United States | 1,441,799 | 12/31/22 |
| 24 | Deutsche Bank | Germany | 1,425,817 | 12/31/22 |
| 25 | Toronto-Dominion Bank | Canada | 1,382,501 | 1/31/23 |
| 26 | Royal Bank of Canada | Canada | 1,359,412 | 1/31/23 |
| 27 | Industrial Bank | China | 1,342,149 | 12/31/22 |
| 28 | Agricultural Development Bank of China | China | 1,300,658 | 12/31/22 |
| 29 | Shanghai Pudong Development Bank | China | 1,246,014 | 12/31/22 |
| 30 | China CITIC Bank | China | 1,229,562 | 12/31/22 |
| 31 | Morgan Stanley | United States | 1,180,231 | 12/31/22 |
| 32 | Caisse des Depots et Consignations | France | 1,117,393 | 12/31/22 |
| 33 | UBS | Switzerland | 1,105,436 | 12/31/22 |
| 34 | Lloyds Banking Group | Uk | 1,059,364 | 12/31/22 |
| 35 | Intesa Sanpaolo | Italy | 1,040,663 | 12/31/22 |
| 36 | China Minsheng Bank | China | 1,038,602 | 12/31/22 |
| 37 | ING Groep | Netherlands | 1,032,273 | 12/31/22 |
| 38 | Bank of Nova Scotia | Canada | 992,680 | 1/31/23 |
| 39 | UniCredit | Italy | 914,900 | 12/31/22 |
| 40 | China Everbright Bank | China | 906,327 | 12/31/22 |
| 41 | NatWest Group | Uk | 868,960 | 12/31/22 |
| 42 | Export-Import Bank of China | China | 849,845 | 12/31/22 |
| 43 | Bank of Montreal | Canada | 829,719 | 1/31/23 |
| 44 | Standard Chartered | Uk | 819,922 | 12/31/22 |
| 45 | Commonwealth Bank of Australia | Australia | 817,007 | 12/31/22 |
| 46 | Ping An Bank | China | 765,498 | 12/31/22 |
| 47 | BBVA | Spain | 760,635 | 12/31/22 |
| 48 | Norinchukin Bank | Japan | 749,024 | 12/31/22 |
| 49 | ANZ Group | Australia | 744,234 | 3/31/23 |
| 50 | CaixaBank | Spain | 736,454 | 12/31/22 |
