Top largest banks in the world represented by the institutions of the People's Republic of China. The share of the Celestial Empire in the international financial market has grown significantly over the past ten years.
The largest bank in the world is the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, ICBC. It is located in Beijing and is 70% state-run. The bank was founded in 1984, in 2005 it was reorganized and became a joint stock company. This credit institution for the sixth year in a row ranks first in the Global 2000 ranking, which is annually compiled by Forbes magazine. The assets of the largest bank in the world are $ 3.47 trillion.
In Frankfurt, on July 20, a memorandum on mutual cooperation of the largest bank in China - ICBC - and the German "Commerzbank" was signed. The interaction in the framework of the "Belt and Path" refers to operations in the capital market, international trade and investment in large projects. The largest bank in the world considers this event an outlet of relations between Asia and the European Union to a new level.
Second place in terms of assets
In second place is the Chinese Construction Bank with an assets of $ 3.02 trillion. It was founded in 1954 and was then called the People’s Construction Bank of China. The purpose of its creation was the ranking of money for the construction of buildings, industrial complexes and the infrastructure of the Middle Kingdom. The peculiarity of this bank is the application of an innovative approach to customer service: only robotic mechanisms operate in the branches of this credit institution. Client identification is carried out by scanning the face of the robot.
Third place
The Agricultural Bank of China ranks third in the world ranking with $ 2.82 trillion in assets. It was founded in 1951 by Mao Zedong. The purpose of the institution was lending to agricultural production and the development of the agricultural sector. The bank has hundreds of branches around the world, including in Russia.
Fourth place
In fourth place is the Bank of China, its total assets amount to $ 2.60 trillion. This is a group of financial institutions, the oldest of those operating in China. The bank was founded at the beginning of the last century and issued paper money, earned on the difference in exchange rates. He was the first of Chinese banks to enter the international market.
Fifth place
Fifth place was taken by the Japanese bank MUFG - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial. The assets of this financial group are $ 2.59 trillion. The headquarters of the banking holding is located in Osaka. The institution formed by the merger of two banks is included in the rating of the largest banks in the world. The leadership of the financial group is not going to stop there: it is stated that in 2019 the bank’s own cryptocurrency will be tested.
Top European Banks
The list of the largest banks in Europe opens England, HSBC Bank. The English abbreviation stands for "Banking Corporation of Hong Kong and Shanghai." Established in 1865 to subsidize trade between Europe and Asian countries. The bank also funded opium trade.
The largest bank in the world outperforms HSBC by just $ 1 trillion. In addition, at the beginning of 2018, at a general meeting of shareholders, a decision was made to diversify the bank: now branches will be opened in Africa and the Middle East. New offices will begin to operate in Europe. All these actions are designed to increase banking efficiency, expand the network of branches and strengthen the position of a financial institution.
In second place in the world from European banks is BNP Paribas ("BNP Paribas"). Formed at the beginning of the century as a result of the merger of retail and investment institutions.
France is more successful in the banking sector than Switzerland or the United States, due to the lack of a lot of restrictions. For example, in many countries, banks do not allow their own trading operations. The field of activity of BNP Paribas is much wider, respectively, it owns a large number of securities and their derivatives, and the turnover from operations through the bank outstrips many US banks several times.
In third place in Europe is another French bank - Credit Agricole. It was created at the end of the 19th century to finance the country's agriculture. In those days, small family farms could not find the funds to develop and maintain their activities. Credit Agricole allowed the creation of bank branches to peasant farmers' unions. Such micro-organizations owned the bank and acted on the principles of cooperation and mutual assistance. This set of measures has proven effective as a real support to agriculture in the villages and remote provinces of France.
The story of the most daring robberies
The history of the banking sector knows cases of complete devastation of depositories. The largest bank robberies in the world took place in Europe.
In 1987, two robbers entered the London Knightsbridge Bank. They used the main entrance, like ordinary visitors. Having reported the need to check their bank cells, they disabled security officers and stole 112 million dollars from the bank.
The second largest bank robbery occurred in Brazil, in the city of Fortaleza. It was planned and implemented with enviable methodology. Robbers entered the facility’s vault through a tunnel that had been prepared in advance and even equipped with electricity.
In Ireland, in 2004, criminals abducted an employee and director of a bank in Belfast. Family members of bank employees were taken hostage. Under threat to the lives of their loved ones, the director and employee opened a depository from which $ 50 million was stolen.
Despite these cases, it’s almost impossible to carry out a bank robbery these days. Modern designs of depositories, cash nodes are built on the basis of the frame, reinforced with sheets of steel with a thickness of more than 5 millimeters.
Robbery without violence
By the way, the risk of armed robbery of a financial institution is minimized today. The priority is to protect information and banking data from hacker attacks. Information in the database may be distorted, become the subject of blackmail or speculation, money can be stolen from accounts without access to the store. An experienced hacker can do this without leaving home.
The impudent robbery of Citibank (USA) was carried out in the mid-1990s by Russian hacker Vladimir Levin, who broke into the bank’s internal system via the Internet. He stole more than $ 10 million and placed them in parts at banks around the world. Most of the money was returned, but about 400 thousand dollars were not found.
Information security is based on modern software, access control for employees (most often, bank employees become the cause of information leakage), complex, multi-level encryption.
The modern security system gives the largest bank in the world and its closest competitors confidence in the reliability of security systems, and their investors - a guarantee of the safety of capital.