WORLD'S BIGGEST BANKS 2004, THE

Global Finance, Oct 2004

Global Finance ranks the world's 50 biggest banks, as measured by total assets.

This year's list provides clear evidence of the upturn in the banking world. Last year there were just two banks with assets of more than $1 trillion: This year there are five. Admittedly, a dollar isn't worth what it used to be, but the fact that the total assets of the top five have rocketed by a quarter, from $4.6 trillion to more than $5.7 trillion, suggests that, finally, the hard times are over for the top banks. At the bottom of the top 50, the growth in assets is even more remarkable. Last year's bottom five accounted for a total of $1.3 trillion. This year the bottom five's combined assets are up by almost a third, to $1.7 trillion.

Citigroup of the US and Japan's Mizuho Financial continue to duke it out for the top spot. Last year Citi was at the top of the heap; this year Mizuho takes the lead. With three banks in the top 10, Japan still dominates, but France, with two in the top 10, has now overtaken the US, which this year has only one bank among the biggest 10. Overall, the US has lost out to Germany: There are 10 German banks among the top 50 and only seven Americans.