The proposed merger of BB&T and SunTrust, announced in February 2019, is set to inject some excitement in a North American ranking that has traditionally remained relatively static. The two lenders, now in 14th and 17th place, respectively, agreed a deal that, when adding together their most recent annual financial results, should create the ninth largest bank in North America by Tier 1 capital.
For now, the North American ranking remains stable. As in the 2018 ranking, at the top of the list are JPMorgan in first, Bank of America in second, Wells Fargo (third), Citigroup (fourth) and, at some distance, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in fifth and sixth, respectively. In fact, there is no change in the ranking until 11th position, where Capital One Financial Corporation has displaced PNC Financial Services Group. Capital One expanded its Tier 1 capital by 8.8% in 2018, while PNC cut its by 3.5%.
