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Top 1000 World Banks – Tier 1 declines causes shake up in western Europe

HSBC remains western Europe's largest lender, but it is all change elsewhere in the ranking, as capital declines across numerous institutions causes movement among the largest lenders.
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Western European banks saw their Tier 1 capital decline in 2014, with aggregate core capital across the region's top 25 banks down by $87.6bn compared with 2013 results, and just four banks recording Tier 1 capital increases. One of those, France-based Crédit Agricole, climbs two spots to rank second in western Europe, displacing France’s largest bank by assets, BNP Paribas, which ranks third. Crédit Agricole added $2.4bn after three additional Tier 1 capital increases in 2014. In contrast, BNP Paribas recorded a 14% reduction in capital to $85.4bn.

Top 25 banks in western Europe

Capital at Barclays, which ranked third in the 2014 ranking, fell by 11.7%, causing the UK lender to drop into fourth position in western Europe. 

Deutsche Bank, which added $7.6bn of capital, climbs one position to sixth after a capital increase in June 2014. The only other banks to have increased their capital are Société Générale, which moves up one position, and Crédit Mutuel, which moves from last year’s 19th to 15th.

The UK’s HSBC remains the largest lender in western Europe, despite posting a 3.4% reduction in Tier 1 capital in 2014, while Royal Bank of Scotland, having dropped three places in last year's western Europe ranking, continues its downward trend and loses another position with a recorded $9.7bn of Tier 1 capital. 

The only new addition to western Europe's top 25 banks is NRW Bank, one of Germany’s landesbanken. With $22.2bn of capital, it is the third largest German bank in the regional ranking. Last year, NRW Bank’s end-of-year results had not been available by the time The Banker’s Top 1000 ranking went to press. Meanwhile, ABN Amro drops out of the top 25 banks, after its capital decreased from $23bn in 2014's ranking to $19.4bn this year.

Nine new western European banks entered The Banker’s Top 1000, of which only Novo Banco, Cooperative Central Bank, Hypo Group Alpe Adria and Sparbanken Skane are genuinely 'new' entries. Portugal's Novo Banco, established out of the healthy assets from bailed-out Banco Espirito Santo (BES), joins in 198th with $5.5bn of capital. Last year, BES ranked 143th with $8.2bn of reported Tier 1 capital and $910m of pre-tax losses. Novo Banco’s full-year 2014 losses were $355m.

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