Research — 26 Apr, 2023
Europe's 50 largest banks by assets, 2023
By Deza Mones and Mohammad Taqi
 This article is a part of the worldwide bank ranking series. The world's largest 100 banks, 2023 Asia-Pacific's 50 largest banks by assets, 2023 Latin America and the Caribbean's 50 largest banks by assets, 2023 The Middle East and Africa's 30 largest banks by assets, 2023 |
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HSBC Holdings PLC narrowly retained its title as Europe's largest bank by assets, S&P Global Market Intelligence data shows.
The UK-headquartered, Asia-focused bank had €2.681 trillion of assets at the end of 2022, just surpassing French lender BNP Paribas SA's total of €2.666 trillion.
Both banks grew assets during the year while also exiting some operations, notably in North America. HSBC agreed to sell its Canadian business for $10.1 billion in November 2022. It has pledged to distribute the sale proceeds as special dividends after shareholders were stung by payout suspensions. BNP Paribas recently completed the $16.3 billion sale of US-based Bank of the West.
HSBC added to its assets in March by taking over the UK operations of failed US lender Silicon Valley Bank. The deal gave HSBC more than £12 billion in additional loans and deposits for a purchase price of just £1.
France-based Crédit Agricole Group maintained its third spot in the rankings, with €2.379 trillion of assets. Banco Santander SA moved into fourth place with assets totaling €1.735 trillion. The Spanish lender overtook UK-based Barclays PLC, which posted €1.707 trillion of assets.
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New powerhouse
UBS Group AG surged into sixth place in the rankings after jumping six spots, one of the biggest advances on the list. The Swiss lender's adjusted assets ballooned to about €1.571 trillion due to a government-orchestrated merger with Credit Suisse Group AG, Market Intelligence data shows. Excluding Credit Suisse, the bank's total assets stood at €1.033 trillion. The combination catapulted UBS past lenders including Deutsche Bank AG, as well as the French trio of Société Générale SA, Groupe BPCE and Crédit Mutuel Group.
UBS will become the second-largest global wealth management franchise and third-largest European asset manager by invested assets following the combination, it said in March. It plans to downsize Credit Suisse's investment bank and wind down the division's noncore portfolio while keeping the Swiss unit. Most of the integration process will be completed within 3 or 4 years, according to UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher.
Italian lender Intesa Sanpaolo SpA's assets fell below €1 trillion, pushing it down three ranking spots to 12th. The bank has said that it reduced risk-weighted assets in the fourth quarter of 2022 ahead of 2023 regulatory changes. It was working to cut as much as €20 billion of risk-weighted assets to address European Central Bank concerns over risk calculations, Bloomberg News reported in January, citing unnamed sources.
New entrants
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Ziraat Bankasi AS entered the list at number 48, with assets of €127.66 billion.
Germany's Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale also joined the rankings, with €109.33 billion in assets.
France, the UK and Germany each had six lenders in the top 50, followed by Italy with five and Spain with four. The French banks had the highest combined assets at almost €10 trillion and all six were in the top 20.