Press Release: The World’s 50 Safest Banks 2016

NEW YORK, Sept. 8, 2016 — Global Finance has announced its 25th annual ranking of the World’s 50 Safest Banks. The full list of the 2016 safest banks appears on the following pages and will be published in the November issue.

Despite Brexit and the turbulent economic environment in Europe, the continent’s banks dominate the top ten of the World’s Safest Banks again in 2016. For the fifth year in a row, Germany’s KfW has taken the top spot, followed by Zürcher Kantonalbank of Switzerland and Germany’s Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank. Toronto-Dominion Bank, of Canada, maintained its spot in the top 10.

Asian banks put in a strong showing in the top 20, led by Singapore’s DBS Bank at #12, with OCBC, Korea Development Bank, United Overseas Bank and Export-Import Bank of Korea holding positions 14 through 17.

The top-ranking US bank this year is AgriBank, which comes in at 33rd, and the top-ranking Middle East bank is National Bank of Abu Dhabi, in 32nd place.

Sweden provided two of the new names on the list this year: Swedbank, leaping in at 30th, and SEB at 44th. US Bancorp is also new from last year, in 41st place. Finland’s OP Corporate Bank, formerly known as Pohjola, rounds out the list at 50th.

“The Safest Banks ranking for 2016 illustrates the impact of some the past year’s major political and economic shifts, with low oil prices in particular having significant impact on Gulf economies. With Brexit-like populism on the rise in many countries, political tensions threaten to derail reforms. Our ranking provides a consistent metric by which clients can compare the stability and security of banks across countries and regions,” says Global Finance publisher and editorial director Joseph D. Giarraputo.

Global Finance’s annual ranking of World’s 50 Safest Banks has been the recognized and trusted standard of financial counterparty safety for a quarter-century. Winners were selected through an evaluation of long-term foreign currency ratings—from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch—and total assets of the 500 largest banks worldwide.

In addition to the World’s 50 Safest Banks, the full report also includes the following: World’s 50 Safest Commercial Banks, Safest Banks by Country, 50 Safest Banks in Emerging Markets, 50 Safest Banks in Europe, 50 Safest Banks in the Middle East, Safest Chinese Banks, Safest Islamic Financial Institutions in the GCC, and Safest Banks by Region (Asia, Australasia, Central & Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East/Africa, North America and Western Europe). The report will also compare the 2016 Safest Banks against our rankings from 5 and 10 years ago.

The full results of this exclusive survey will be published in the November issue of Global Finance. The safest banks will be presented awards at a special ceremony to be held during the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, DC on October 8.