For European banks, diversifying into emerging markets is a necessity while their home economies are in the doldrums. UK-headquartered HSBC has always had one foot firmly in Asia, and its 27 foreign subsidiaries that disclose separate data remain by far the largest overseas holdings of any bank, with assets of $1885bn.
The UK remains in recession, but perhaps the Latin American ventures of Spain’s Santander are even more important. The Spanish economy is likely to remain troubled for some time in the face of heavy government austerity measures and a slumping real estate market. By contrast, its foreign subsidiaries (which include Germany and Poland as well as the powerful franchise across Latin America) generated profits of $12.6bn in 2011.
