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Top 1000 World Banks - Little change in North America as merger looms

There is no change in the top 10 of the North America ranking, though all eyes are on a merger between BB&T and SunTrust. Silvia Pavoni reports.
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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. 

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: 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

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Read more about:  Americas , Rankings & data , Top 1000 World Banks
Silvia Pavoni is editor in chief of The Banker. Silvia also serves as an advisory board member for the Women of the Future Programme and for the European Risk Management Council, and is part of the London council of non-profit WILL, Women in Leadership in Latin America. In 2019, she was awarded an honorary fellowship by City University of London.
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