The world's five largest banks are all based in Asia, and
China-headquartered banks made up the top four, according to S&P Global
Market Intelligence's latest global bank rankings.
S&P Global Market Intelligence ranks the largest banks in the world
by converting their total assets into U.S. dollars using the exchange rate as
of the end of the period measured. Most banks were ranked by total assets as of
Dec. 31, 2015. The previous ranking was published in August 2015 and ranked
most banks by total assets as of March 31, 2015.
London-based HSBC Holdings Plc fell to No. 6 from No. 4 in the previous
ranking; the company's total assets dropped to 2.02 € trillion from 2.24 €
trillion. In the previous ranking, HSBC was the only bank in the top five that
was not headquartered in China, but in the current ranking, Tokyo's Mitsubishi
UFJ Financial Group Inc. took that designation, jumping three spots to No. 5
from No. 8.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. continued to be the largest U.S.-based bank
despite falling by one spot to No. 7 in the global ranking, but it would rank
No. 2 if it followed the same accounting principles as the Chinese banks. U.S.
banks report their financials under U.S. GAAP, while the largest Chinese banks
report under the IFRS accounting principle. Under U.S. GAAP, banks report the
net amount of derivative assets on their balance sheets, while IFRS companies must
report the gross amount of derivative assets. If JPMorgan filed under IFRS,
S&P Global Market Intelligence estimates it would add assets of 757.04 €
billion, bringing its total assets to 2.73 € trillion and making it the
second-largest bank in the world. S&P Global Market Intelligence did not
perform the same analysis on banks that report under Japanese GAAP or other
types of GAAP.
