The UK’s HSBC tops The Banker’s Top 250 EU Banks ranking by Tier 1 capital. HSBC’s Tier 1 capital grew by 8.21% to $151bn during 2012 – a reflection of the bank’s efforts to comply with new capital requirements, as well as its strong financial performance. The bank also claimed the top spot according to two other key indicators – it posted the highest profits ($20.7bn) and the largest assets ($2690bn) of all EU banks.
There are four UK banks in the Top 10 banks by Tier 1 capital and three French banks. Spain’s Banco Santander, Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Italy’s UniCredit occupy the remaining three spots. Taken as a whole, French banks performed better than UK banks during 2012. French banks in the Top 250 posted pre-tax profits of $23.3bn and an aggregate return on capital (RoC) of 7.07%, compared with UK banks, which posted pre-tax profits of $19.9bn and an aggregate RoC of 4.32%.
