Biggest Emerging Markets Banks 2015

ANDREW CUNNINGHAM

It is not even close: The 12 largest emerging markets banks in the world are Chinese.

A BIG COUNTRY WITH BIG BANKS

China’s increasing prominence on the world financial stage has been proven yet again: Of the 50 biggest emerging markets banks in this year’s ranking, the top 12 are all Chinese. The biggest of the big is Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which boasts assets of $3,368 billion. That total also qualifies ICBC as the largest bank in the world—even when compared with developed market financial institutions.

In all, 19 Chinese banks make Global Finance’s list of the 50 biggest emerging markets banks, ranked by 2014 asset size. That’s the same number as last year.

The combined assets of the 19 banks was $20,145 billion, up 13% from 2013. In contrast, the combined assets for non-Chinese banks in the Biggest 50 list declined slightly, down to $6,585 billion.

The biggest emerging markets bank in the world that doesn’t happen to be Chinese is Banco do Brasil, with $481 billion in assets as of the end of 2014. Sberbank of Russia is next, with $448 billion.

There are five new entries on this year’s list: CTBC Bank and Mega International Commercial Bank, both from Taiwan; National Bank of Abu Dhabi; India’s Punjab National Bank; and Malaysia’s Public Bank. The five who fall out of the list are Vnesheconombank and Gazprombank, both of Russia; Taishin Financial Holding, of Taiwan; Standard Bank of South Africa; and Korea Finance Corporation, which is not included because it merged with Korea Development Bank in December. As a result of the tie-up, Korea Development Bank’s assets grew by 60%, moving KDB up 11 places to become the 25th-largest emerging markets bank in the world.

South Korea contributes eight of the world’s 50 largest emerging markets banks, and Taiwan contributes three. When combined with Chinese banks, these three Asian countries contribute 30 of the biggest 50.

Six banks from Brazil make the list, four from India and three from Turkey. Malaysia and Russia each have two banks in the ranking.

BIGGEST EMERGING MARKETS BANKS 201­5
Rank	Bank	Country	Total Assets USD Mln
1	Industrial and Commercial Bank of China	China	3,368,190
2	China Construction Bank	China	2,736,416
3	Agricultural Bank of China	China	2,610,582
4	Bank of China	China	2,492,463
5	China Development Bank	China	1,685,954
6	Bank of Communications	China	1,024,399
7	China Merchants Bank	China	773,301
8	Industrial Bank (China)	China	720,118
9	Shanghai Pudong Development Bank	China	685,721
10	China Citic Bank	China	676,387
11	China Minsheng Bank	China	656,175
12	Agricultural Development Bank of China	China	513,517
13	Banco do Brasil	Brazil	481,299
14	Sberbank	Russia	447,947
15	China Everbright Bank	China	447,297
16	State Bank of India	India	431,391
17	Itaú Unibanco	Brazil	424,463
18	Caixa Econômica Federal	Brazil	400,920
19	Export-Import Bank of China	China	386,953
20	Ping An Bank	China	352,427
21	Banco Bradesco	Brazil	350,373
22	BNDES	Brazil	330,328
23	Hua Xia Bank	China	302,603
24	China Guangfa Bank	China	269,334
25	Korea Development Bank	South Korea	252,231
26	KB Kookmin Bank	South Korea	250,572
27	Bank of Beijing	China	249,132
28	Woori Bank	South Korea	245,754
29	Shinhan Bank	South Korea	232,554
30	VTB Bank	Russia	216,693
31	Industrial Bank of Korea	South Korea	199,910
32	Banco Santander Brasil	Brazil	195,888
33	Bank of Shanghai	China	194,060
34	Nonghyup Financial Group	South Korea	192,531
35	Maybank	Malaysia	183,205
36	Hana Financial Group	South Korea	156,877
37	Bank of Taiwan	Taiwan	146,756
38	Qatar National Bank	Qatar	133,614
39	ICICI Bank	India	131,981
40	Türkiye Is Bankasi	Turkey	118,818
41	Bank of Baroda	India	117,266
42	National Commercial Bank	Saudi Arabia	115,967
43	Ziraat Bankası	Turkey	109,009
44	CTBC Bank	Taiwan	107,839
45	Garanti Bank	Turkey	106,442
46	National Bank of Abu Dhabi	UAE	102,409
47	Korea Exchange Bank	South Korea	102,192
48	Punjab National Bank	India	101,614
49	Mega International Commercial Bank	Taiwan	99,167
50	Public Bank (Malaysia)	Malaysia	98,919

Source for asset figures: Fitch Solutions