World's Safest Banks | Biggest Emerging Market Banks 2017

China, China, China. Most emerging markets can’t outgrow Asia’s dynamic behemoth.

Most of the 50 biggest banks in emerging markets are Asian. South America also makes a significant contribution to the list.

Asian banks account for 35 of the 50 biggest emerging-markets banks. China contributes 21 of these, but South Korea also contributes seven and India four. The remainder are based in Taiwan (two banks) and Malaysia (one bank). Chinese banks contribute the 13 biggest emerging-markets banks, the same as last year. All except the 13th, China Everbright Bank, also feature in the rankings of the 50 biggest banks worldwide. The biggest non-Chinese bank is State Bank of India, in 14th place.

South Korea contributes the second largest contingent of banks to the 50 biggest, led by KEB Hana, in 26th place, closely followed by Woori, Kookmin, Shinhan and Korea Development Bank.

Brazil has six banks in the 50 biggest and Venezuela two. No other Latin American country has banks big enough to qualify for the ranking, which is based on dollar-denominated asset size. Itau Unibanco Holding is the largest Brazilian bank, at 16th, followed by Banco do Brasil, Caixa Economica Federal and Banco Bradesco.

Appreciation of the Venezuelan currency pushed Banesco Banco Universal up eight places and enabled Mercantil Banco Universal to enter the rankings at 44th. Banks in Chile, Mexico and Peru, among the safest in the region, fall far short of the asset size needed to reach the ranks of the 50 biggest.

The Gulf States contribute four banks to the emerging-market list, two from the UAE, one from Qatar and one from Saudi Arabia. First Abu Dhabi Bank, the result of the merger earlier this year of National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and First Gulf Bank, ranks 38th, compared to 45th for NBAD last year.

Russia contributes two banks, Sberbank and VTB. Both Turkish banks that featured last year, Is Bankasi and Ziraat Bankasi, drop out of this year’s ranking.

The six biggest emerging-market banks show assets of more than $1 trillion each, and the biggest 14 each show assets greater than $500 billion. The 50th-largest emerging-market bank is Bank of Baroda, with assets of $107.2 billion. The 50th last year was Punjab National Bank with $101.6 billion. The combined assets of the 50 biggest banks are $29.8 trillion, compared to $27 trillion last year, an increase of 10.4%.

50 Biggest Emerging-markets Banks 2017

Rank	Group Name	Country	Total Assets USD Mln
1	Industrial and Commercial Bank of China	China	3,473,088
2	China Construction Bank Corporation	China	3,016,447
3	Agricultural Bank of China	China	2,815,917
4	Bank of China	China	2,611,426
5	China Development Bank	China	1,943,930
6	Bank of Communications	China	1,209,123
7	Industrial Bank	China	875,694
8	China Merchants Bank	China	855,033
9	China CITIC Bank	China	853,413
10	China Minsheng Bank	China	848,352
11	Shanghai Pudong Development Bank	China	842,796
12	Agricultural Development Bank of China	China	644,401
13	China Everbright Bank	China	578,440
14	State Bank of India	India	531,338
15	Export-Import Bank of China	China	479,776
16	Itau Unibanco	Brazil	437,514
17	Banco do Brasil	Brazil	430,068
18	Ping An Bank	China	424,967
19	Sberbank	Russia	418,229
20	Caixa Economica Federal	Brazil	385,285
21	Banco Bradesco	Brazil	362,009
22	Hua Xia Bank	China	339,036
23	Bank of Beijing	China	304,518
24	China Guangfa Bank	China	294,626
25	BNDES	Brazil	268,877
26	KEB Hana Bank	South Korea	257,165
27	Woori Bank	South Korea	257,081
28	Kookmin Bank	South Korea	254,089
29	Shinhan Bank	South Korea	250,604
30	Korea Development Bank	South Korea	225,766
31	Bank of Shanghai	China	223,164
32	Banesco Banco Universal	Venezuela	215,543
33	Banco Santander	Brazil	215,346
34	Industrial Bank of Korea	South Korea	212,537
35	NongHyup Bank	South Korea	207,561
36	Qatar National Bank	Qatar	197,718
37	VTB Bank	Russia	195,300
38	First Abu Dhabi Bank	UAE	185,799
39	China Zheshang Bank*	China	177,861
40	Maybank	Malaysia	164,056
41	Bank of Taiwan	Taiwan	154,362
42	Bank of Nanjing*	China	152,816
43	Standard Bank*	South Africa	142,812
44	Mercantil Banco Universal*	Venezuela	133,799
45	Emirates NBD	UAE	121,989
46	ICICI Bank	India	119,033
47	National Commercial Bank	Saudi Arabia	117,731
48	CTBC Bank	Taiwan	114,956
49	Punjab National Bank	India	111,096
50	Bank of Baroda	India	107,170

* New to the list this year

Source: Asset values from Fitch Ratings in most cases; where not available, company reports