Top 1000 World Banks - Good news for western Europe as capital rebounds across board
Western European institutions have seen a distinct improvement on their poor 2017 figures, with most top banks increasing their capitalisation. HSBC remains local leader but has ceded a place on the global ranking. Stefanie Linhardt reports.
After a gloomy picture for western Europe in 2017’s Top 1000 ranking, Tier 1 capital among the top 25 institutions in the region rose by $187.912bn, or 14.8%, in the 2018 ranking to $1454.46bn, as every lender increased its capitalisation on the previous year.
Across all 218 western European banks listed in the Top 1000 ranking, Tier 1 capital grew by an average of 16.46%, as only Cypriot banks decreased their capitalisation on aggregate.
The biggest winner of this year’s regional ranking is UniCredit, following a bad performance in the 2017 ranking. The Italian lender boosted its capitalisation by $29.1bn to $65.9bn, enabling it to improve on its 19th place to become western Europe’s eighth largest bank. Still, it needs to climb another three places to reclaim its 2016 regional position.
The UK’s HSBC remains the clear leader in Europe by capitalisation, which it increased by $12.9bn to $151bn, but it has dropped one place in the global ranking. Of the two largest French banks, BNP Paribas has pushed past Crédit Agricole into second after three years of ranking third in the region (having increased capitalisation by 17.61%). Compatriot Crédit Mutuel has risen two spots in the regional ranking, as has Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo, while Germany’s DZ Bank and Dutch ABN Amro have both improved by one position.
Spain’s CaixaBank is the only new entrant in the top 25 this year, with a 22.73% increase in Tier 1 capital pushing it ahead of last year’s 23rd placed DNB Group of Norway, whose capitalisation also improved, but only to $22.76bn.
Through Banco BPM and Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), another two Italian banks are among the highest movers by capitalisation in this year’s Top 1000 (along with UniCredit), after the formation of BPM by the merger of Banco Popolare and Popolare di Milano, and MPS being bailed out through a precautionary recapitalisation.
The highest movers table also boasts four UK banks, three of which underline the UK’s challenger bank trend: Shawbrook, OneSavings Bank – the fifth most profitable in the region by return on capital – and Metro Bank. These have grown on the back of a private equity buyout, retained earnings and a £278m ($368m) equity raise, respectively.
This year’s ranking stands in stark contrast to 2017's, when Tier 1 capital fell at 15 out of the top 25 banks in the region.
Top 25 Western Europe ($M)
Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Country | Tier 1 capital |
1 | 10 | HSBC Holdings | UK | 150,954 |
2 | 12 | BNP Paribas | France | 101,707 |
3 | 13 | Credit Agricole | France | 101,557 |
4 | 15 | Banco Santander | Spain | 93,112 |
5 | 18 | Barclays | UK | 72,857 |
6 | 19 | Groupe BPCE | France | 71,675 |
7 | 22 | Deutsche Bank | Germany | 69,435 |
8 | 24 | UniCredit | Italy | 65,907 |
9 | 29 | Societe Generale | France | 59,655 |
10 | 32 | BBVA | Spain | 56,602 |
11 | 33 | Credit Mutuel | France | 54,913 |
12 | 34 | ING | Netherlands | 54,478 |
13 | 35 | RBS | UK | 53,451 |
14 | 36 | Credit Suisse Group | Switzerland | 52,533 |
15 | 37 | Intesa Sanpaolo | Italy | 52,367 |
16 | 38 | Lloyds Banking Group | UK | 49,093 |
17 | 41 | Standard Chartered | UK | 44,861 |
18 | 42 | Rabobank Group | Netherlands | 44,824 |
19 | 43 | UBS | Switzerland | 44,324 |
20 | 54 | Nordea Group | Sweden | 33,745 |
21 | 58 | Commerzbank | Germany | 31,307 |
22 | 68 | Danske Bank | Denmark | 24,340 |
23 | 70 | DZ Bank | Germany | 24,146 |
24 | 72 | ABN Amro Group | Netherlands | 23,636 |
25 | 74 | CaixaBank | Spain | 22,981 |
Highest Movers: Western Europe
Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Country | Tier 1 Capital % ch | Tier 1 Capital $m |
1 | 154 | Caixa Geral de Depositos | Portugal | 132.32 | 9,435 |
2 | 129 | Banco BPM | Italy | 114.83 | 11,576 |
3 | 135 | Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena | Italy | 91.38 | 10,785 |
4 | 534 | The Co-operative Bank | UK | 86.52 | 1,697 |
5 | 118 | Volkswagen Bank | Germany | 83.81 | 12,329 |
6 | 24 | UniCredit | Italy | 78.87 | 65,907 |
7 | 837 | Shawbrook Bank | UK | 64.63 | 753 |
8 | 456 | Home Credit | Netherlands | 60.95 | 2,149 |
9 | 861 | OneSavings Bank | UK | 55.72 | 703 |
10 | 658 | Metro Bank | UK | 50.71 | 1,212 |
Top Five ROC: Western Europe
Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Country | Return on capital (%) |
1 | 937 | Banca Generali | Italy | 50.2 |
2 | 397 | BancoPosta | Italy | 37.4 |
3 | 345 | Schroders | UK | 33.38 |
4 | 473 | Banca March | Spain | 32.83 |
5 | 861 | OneSavings Bank | UK | 32.24 |
New Entrants: Western Europe ($M)
World Rank | Bank Name | Country | Tier 1 Capital |
397 | BancoPosta | Italy | 2,481 |
696 | Banca IFIS | Italy | 1,082 |
810 | Banca Agricola di Ragusa | Italy | 826 |
985 | Saxo Bank Group | Denmark | 490 |