World's Top 50 Safest European Banks - Global Finance Magazine

Large multinationals are edged out of Europe’s top 50 by midsize banks that are based in developed economies and offer global service.

Many European banks have benefitted from upgrades over the last year, enabling them to rise higher in our ranking of the safest European banks. Danske Bank moved up three places to 37th following an upgrade from Moody’s, and KBC moved up three places to 38th after an upgrade from Fitch. Belfius Bank is a new entrant, in 49th place after an upgrade from Moody’s. ING Bank and Crédit Agricole are among other banks upgraded.

France contributes 11 of the 50 Safest European Banks with a mixture of state-sponsored banks, such as Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and SFIL (in ninth and 14th places), and commercial banks, such as Crédit Agricole and Société Générale (in 32nd and 40th places).

Germany is the next-biggest contributor, with eight banks; although these do not include Deutsche Bank or Commerzbank, which narrowly miss inclusion. The German banking system is characterized by many hundreds of small retail banks, such as Sparkassen and Volksbanken, which are part of wider cooperative groups and enjoy high ratings as a result of the huge resources of the groups as a whole. In line with the methodology used in previous years, we include DZ Bank as a representative of the whole Genossenschaftliche Finanzgruppe, which includes Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken, and Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe as a representative of the Landesbanken and Sparkassen.

The smaller economies of Scandinavia contribute 10 of the safest European banks. This is not surprising: In the 10 years since the global financial crisis erupted, we have seen that the rating agencies have retained high ratings on medium-size international banks based in developed financial markets, while the agencies have been more conservative about the largest international banks with the biggest global footprints.

Swedish banks are particularly highly rated, with three entrants in the top 20, but Denmark, Norway and Finland are all represented on our list.

In contrast, the United Kingdom contributes only four banks to the 50 Safest, and two of those are mutuals that focus exclusively on collecting retail savings and making retail loans in the UK. HSBC and Standard Chartered are the other two included, but other household names of British banking, such as Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds do not feature (although Lloyds comes close).

The Czech Republic is the only Eastern European country to contribute banks to the 50 Safest European list: Česká Spořitelna and Komerční banka. Poland’s ING Bank Slaski and Bank Pekao come close, but other Eastern European banks fall well short of the rating levels needed for inclusion. The strongest Russian bank, Vnesheconombank, has ratings that straddle the investment grade/sub-investment grade divide.

THE 50 SAFEST european BANKS
Rank	Group Name	Country	Ratings			Total Score	Assets $ mn	Statement Date
Rank	Group Name	Country	Fitch	Moody’s	S&P	Total Score	Assets $ mn	Statement Date
1	KfW	Germany	AAA	Aaa	AAA	30	534,429	12/31/16
2	Zürcher Kantonalbank	Switzerland	AAA	Aaa	AAA	30	155,222	12/31/16
3	Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank	Germany	AAA	Aaa	AAA	30	100,185	12/31/16
4	L-Bank	Germany	AAA	Aaa	AAA	30	79,010	12/31/16
5	Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten	Netherlands	AA+	Aaa	AAA	29	162,327	12/31/16
6	Nederlandse Waterschapsbank	Netherlands	N/R	Aaa	AAA	29	109,063	6/30/16
7	NRW.BANK	Germany	AAA	Aa1	AA-	26	148,105	12/31/16
8	Banque et Caisse d’Épargne de l’État	Luxembourg	N/R	Aa2	AA+	24.5	50,058	6/30/16
9	Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations	France	AA	Aa2	AA	24	175,428	12/31/16
10	DZ Bank	Germany	AA-	Aa1	AA-	23	536,995	12/31/16
11	Svenska Handelsbanken	Sweden	AA	Aa2	AA-	23	289,949	12/31/16
12	Banque Cantonale Vaudoise	Switzerland	N/R	Aa2	AA	23	45,932	6/30/16
13	Deutsche Apotheker- und Ärztebank	Germany	AA-	Aa1	AA-	23	40,661	12/31/16
14	SFIL	France	AA-	Aa3	AA	22	83,708	6/30/16
15	Banque Pictet	Switzerland	AA-	Aa2	N/R	21.5	34,092	12/31/15
16	Rabobank	Netherlands	AA-	Aa2	A+	21	698,422	12/31/16
17	Nordea	Sweden	AA-	Aa3	AA-	21	648,950	12/31/16
18	Swedbank	Sweden	AA-	Aa3	AA-	21	237,713	12/31/16
19	Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe	Germany	A+	Aa2	N/R	20	1,246,015	12/31/15
20	SEB	Sweden	AA-	Aa3	A+	20	289,184	12/31/16
21	DNB	Norway	N/R	Aa2	A+	20	281,136	9/30/16
22	HSBC France	France	AA-	A1	AA-	20	178,584	12/31/16
23	OP Corporate Bank	Finland	N/R	Aa3	AA-	20	65,256	9/30/16
24	LGT Bank	Liechtenstein	N/R	Aa2	A+	20	29,079	12/31/15
25	Bank für Sozialwirtschaft	Germany	AA-	N/R	AA-	20	8,982	12/31/16
26	HSBC Holdings	United Kingdom	AA-	A1	A	18	2,374,986	12/31/16
27	UBS	Switzerland	A	Aa3	A+	18	998,995	12/31/16
28	ING Bank	Netherlands	A+	A1	A+	18	889,553	12/31/16
29	Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM)	France	A+	Aa3	A	18	517,913	12/31/16
30	Nationwide Building Society	United Kingdom	A+	Aa3	A	18	275,935	4/4/17
31	BNP Paribas	France	A+	A1	A	17	2,189,268	12/31/16
32	Crédit Agricole	France	A+	A1	A	17	1,816,010	12/31/16
33	Standard Chartered Bank	United Kingdom	A+	A1	A	17	646,692	12/31/16
34	ABN-AMRO	Netherlands	A+	A1	A	17	415,813	12/31/16
35	BNP Paribas Fortis	Belgium	A+	A1	A	17	313,893	12/31/16
36	BGL BNP Paribas	Luxembourg	A+	A1	A	17	47,412	12/31/16
37	Danske Bank	Denmark	A	A1	A	16	493,941	12/31/16
38	KBC Group	Belgium	A	A1	A	16	252,275	12/31/16
39	Lansforsakringar Bank	Sweden	N/R	A1	A	15.5	32,226	9/30/16
40	Société Générale	France	A	A2	A	15	1,456,984	12/31/16
41	Groupe BPCE	France	A	A2	A	15	1,302,034	12/31/16
42	Natixis	France	A	A2	A	15	556,402	12/31/16
43	Coventry Building Society	United Kingdom	A	A2	N/R	14	47,110	12/31/16
44	Česká Spořitelna	Czech Republic	A-	A2	A	14	41,598	12/31/16
45	Komerční banka	Czech Republic	A-	A2	A	14	35,990	12/31/16
46	SpareBank 1 SR-Bank	Norway	A-	A1	N/R	14	22,437	12/31/16
47	Banque Palatine	France	A	A2	N/R	14	16,167	12/31/16
48	Nykredit Realkredit	Denmark	A	Baa1	A	13	198,589	12/31/16
49	Belfius Bank	Belgium	A-	A2	A-	13	186,277	12/31/16
50	La Banque Postale	France	A-	N/R	A	12.5	241,992	12/31/16
Note: Ratings valid as of July 31, 2017