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%.
The return on capital (ROC) ranking is once more topped by the same names – American Express Company and Discover Financial Services. In the 2019 ranking, however, both profitability ratios are a good few percentage points lower than they were a year earlier: 36.32% compared with the previous 50.34% for American Express, and 25.15% versus 33.13% for Discover Financial Services.
The regional ranking includes six Canadian names, the highest placed of which, Royal Bank of Canada, comes in in seventh. It is also the third most profitable bank in the region, with an ROC ratio of 24.91%. All bar two Canadian lenders have kept the same positions in the regional table, the exceptions being Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which has climbed one place to 15th, and Desjardin, which moves down a place from 18th to 19th.
The highest movers in the region are all from the US, led by Centerstate Banks with a 76.09% Tier 1 capital expansion. Similarly, all five new North American entrants in the Top 1000 World Banks ranking are also US names: NexBank, State Bankshares, OceanFirst Bank, Heritage Financial Corporation and Origin Bancorp.Â
Top 25: North America ($M)
Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Country | Tier 1 Capital |
1 | 5 | JP Morgan Chase & Co | US | 209,093 |
2 | 6 | Bank of America | US | 189,038 |
3 | 7 | Wells Fargo & Co | US | 167,866 |
4 | 8 | Citigroup | US | 158,122 |
5 | 16 | Goldman Sachs | US | 83,702 |
6 | 21 | Morgan Stanley | US | 70,619 |
7 | 36 | Royal Bank of Canada | Canada | 48,305 |
8 | 42 | Toronto Dominion Bank | Canada | 45,599 |
9 | 46 | US Bancorp | US | 40,741 |
10 | 48 | Scotiabank | Canada | 38,311 |
11 | 50 | Capital One Financial Corporation | US | 37,431 |
12 | 52 | PNC Financial Services Group | US | 34,735 |
13 | 60 | Bank of Montreal | Canada | 28,794 |
14 | 81 | BB&T Corp | US | 21,456 |
15 | 82 | Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce | Canada | 21,304 |
16 | 83 | Bank of New York Mellon | US | 21,044 |
17 | 87 | SunTrust Banks | US | 19,306 |
18 | 88 | American Express Company | US | 19,070 |
19 | 97 | Desjardins Group | Canada | 16,479 |
20 | 99 | Ally Financial | US | 15,831 |
21 | 103 | Citizens Bank | US | 15,324 |
22 | 104 | State Street Corp | US | 15,270 |
23 | 110 | Fifth Third Bancorp | US | 13,864 |
24 | 111 | KeyCorp | US | 13,712 |
25 | 131 | M&T Bank Corporation | US | 11,194 |
Highest Movers: North America
Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank |  | Tier 1 Capital %ch. | Tier 1 Capital $m |
1 | 699 | Centerstate Banks | US | 76.09 | 1,143 |
2 | 661 | First Financial Bancorp | US | 66.35 | 1,257 |
3 | 870 | OceanFirst Bank | US | 52.50 | 710 |
4 | 859 | Sandy Spring Bancorp | US | 51.89 | 738 |
5 | 665 | Union Bankshares Corporation | US | 49.55 | 1,237 |
6 | 707 | Pacific Premier Bancorp | US | 49.43 | 1,112 |
7 | 983 | Byline Bank | US | 33.45 | 524 |
8 | 751 | Ameris Bancorp | US | 32.85 | 985 |
9 | 976 | Heritage Financial Corporation | US | 31.52 | 531 |
10 | 902 | Trico Bancshares | US | 30.68 | 647 |
Top Five ROC:Â North America
Regional Rank | World Rank | Bank | Country | Return on capital (%) |
1 | 88 | American Express Company | US | 36.32 |
2 | 133 | Discover Financial Services | US | 25.17 |
3 | 36 | Royal Bank of Canada | Canada | 24.91 |
4 | 590 | United National Corporation | US | 24.9 |
5 | 166 | National Bank of Canada | Canada | 24.33 |
New Entrants: North America
World Rank | Bank Name | Country | Tier 1 Capital |
989 | NexBank | US | 506 |
993 | State Bankshares | US | 502 |
870 | OceanFirst Bank | US | 710 |
976 | Heritage Financial Corporation | US | 531 |
979 | Origin Bancorp | US | 529 |