The Top 50 Safest Banks in the World

Global Finance magazine released a ranking of the top 50 global banks in terms of safety. This list has been released for 18 years.

Says GM: "Those banks that kept an iron grip on their risk exposure before the financial crisis blew up have consistently topped the table and maintain their standing among the top echelon in this year’s ranking."

The list was compiled based on long-term credit ratings, total assets of the 500 largest banks around the world; ratings from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch were used.

Canada is the country with most banks on the list (6), followed by Germany, France and the U.S (5).

Here they are:


1 KfW (Germany
2 Caisse des Depots et Consignations (CDC) (France)
3 Bank Nederlands Gemeenten (BNG) (Netherlands)
4 Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank (Germany)
5 Zuercher Kantonalbank (Switzerland)
6 Rabobank Group (Netherlands)
7 Landeskreditbank Baden-Wuerttemberg-Foerderbank (Germany)
8 NRW. Bank (Germany)
9 BNP Paribas (France)
10 Royal Bank of Canada (Canada)
11 National Australia Bank (Australia)
12 Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Australia)
13 Banco Santander (Spain)
14 Toronto-Dominion Bank (Canada)
15 Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (Australia)
16 Westpac Banking Corporation (Australia)
17 ASB Bank Limited (New Zealand)
18 HSBC Holdings plc (United Kingdom)
19 Credit Agricole S.A. (France)
20 Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) (Spain)
21 Nordea Bank AB (publ) (Sweden)
22 Scotiabank (Canada)
23 Svenska Handelsbanken (Sweden)
24 DBS Bank (Singapore)
25 Banco Espanol de Credito S.A. (Banesto) (Spain)
26 Caisse Centrale Desjardins (Canada)
27 Pohjola Bank (Finland)
28 Deutsche Bank AG (Germany)
29 Intesa Sanpaolo (Italy)
30 Caja de Ahorros y Pensiones de Barcelona (la Caixa) (Spain)
31 Bank of Montreal (Canada)
32 The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (United States)
33 DnB NOR Bank (Norway)
34 Caixa Geral de Depositos (Portugal)
35 United Overseas Bank (Singapore)
36 Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. (Singapore)
37 CIBC (Canada)
38 National Bank Of Kuwait (Kuwai)
39 J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (United States)
40 UBS AG (Switzerland)
41 Societe Generale (SG) (France)
42 Wells Fargo & Co. (United States)
43 Credit Suisse Group (Switzerland)
44 Banque Federative du Credit Mutuel (BFCM) (France)
45 Credit Industriel et Commercial (CIC) (France)
46 Nationwide Building Society (United Kingdom)
47 U.S. Bancorp (United States)
48 Shizuoka Bank (Japan)
49 Northern Trust Corporation (United States)
50 National Bank of Abu Dhabi (UAE)