The world of banking has changed a lot since that shown by George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life. Banks are no longer the local friendly bank that wants to help you with that small business of yours. They are massive corporations that are money-making machines. Let’s take a quick look at the seven biggest banks in the world.
HSBC
HSBC is a British bank with an incredible reach around the world. The company employs over 200,000 people and has assets valued at $2.55 trillion dollars. I always notice HSBC in the corridors in airports around the world, yet never realized they were so big. Current estimates suggest they are the seventh biggest bank in the world.
JP Morgan Chase and Co.
JP Morgan Chase and Co is one bank that everyone knows. While most people know it for its controversy it is also the sixth biggest bank in the world. The company has been involved in many scandals to date. It had a part to play in the Enron scandal and paid out over $2 billion in settlement fees. The company also had a part to play in the Bernie Madoff fraud and a few more too. However, it is currently the largest bank in America with assets of over $2.6 trillion.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
The largest Japanese bank is the fifth-largest in the world with assets of $2.8 trillion. For such a large bank it only employs around 100,000 people.
The big four
The final four spots are all taken by the largest Chinese banks. Bank of China (4th), Agricultural Bank of China (3rd), China Construction Bank Corporation (2nd) and the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China together dominate the financial industry.
The Industrial & Commerical Bank of China (ICBC) has assets of over $4 trillion and employs over 460,000 people with branches all over the world. It is also the world’s largest public company according to Forbes. The mammoth bank and the entire top four are a reflection of how powerful China has become in the world of finances.
