Research — 23 Apr, 2021
Europe's 50 largest banks by assets, 2021
By Rhema Penaflor and Rehan Ahmad
BNP Paribas SA overtook U.K.-based HSBC Holdings PLC as Europe's biggest lender by assets in a year marked by market turbulence caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The French banking group's total assets stood at €2.521 trillion at the end of 2020, up from €2.165 trillion a year ago. BNP Paribas made a number of acquisitions during the year, including Deutsche Bank AG's prime brokerage unit and Banco de Sabadell SA's institutional depositary business. BNP also placed 7th in S&P Global Market Intelligence's annual global bank ranking.
HSBC, which held €2.440 trillion in assets at 2020-end, dropped to second place after topping the list for eight consecutive years.
France's Crédit Agricole Group and Spain's Banco Santander SA remained in third and fourth place, respectively, with assets of €2.241 trillion and €1.508 trillion. British bank Barclays PLC rose one notch to place fifth, with €1.506 trillion.
La Banque Postale SA made the biggest jump in the list, rising to 17th place from 32nd. The French bank, whose assets surged to €737.18 billion at 2020-end from €271.68 billion a year ago, also made a huge leap in the global banks ranking to the 42nd spot from 89th. In 2020, La Banque Postale took over CNP Assurances SA and signed a deal with Natixis SA to merge their fixed income and insurance-related asset management businesses.
CaixaBank SA also moved up the list to 18th spot from 25th place. The Spanish bank's assets jumped to €661.36 billion from €391.41 billion in the previous year following its all-share merger with Bankia SA.
Germany is home to seven of the 50 largest European banks, the most of any country, followed by France and the U.K. with 6 banks each.
This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.
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