Today in the world there is practically no country where the banking sector is active enough. It goes without saying that, depending on the degree of development of the state itself, all its financial institutions have the corresponding strength. In the article we will study the leading banks of America. A list of the largest banks of this power will also be presented.
general information
Initially, any bank is strictly focused on lending to the population and various businesses. Also, the “vault of money" pays interest to people who invest their money in it in order to save and make a profit. In a word, American banks are the real arteries of the financial system of both their country and the whole world. Without the normal operation of these structures, life can become much more complicated for any modern person.
Historical reference
US banks and the banking system of this state are to some extent a copy of a similar European scheme, but there are still differences.
The pioneers of the US banking sector are financiers from Philadelphia, who showed their enthusiasm back in 1781, when the Bank of North America was created. And by the middle of the 19th century, the number of such companies in the country reached three hundred.
In 1863, there were manifestations of the first state regulation in the banking segment. It was at this time that the so-called National Currency Act was adopted, which contributed to the creation of the state currency in the United States.
In 1874, several other legal documents were adopted, because of which only those American banks that received a charter and were given the status of a national financial institution received the right to issue money. The remaining banks could only work within the borders of their state.
Federal laws
Shortly before the outbreak of the Great Depression in 1927, U.S. House of Representatives member Louis McFadden put forward a project that his colleagues eventually voted on, saying that national banks were forbidden to create interstate networks and should only work in a strictly limited area. Thus, the government tried to equalize the chances of all financial market players. But already in 1994, he repealed this law and determined the ability of state authorities to decide for themselves how banks would work in their area of influence.
Radical change
The Great Depression caused many banks to close daily. As a result, the country's leadership in 1933 adopted the Glass-Steagall Act, thanks to which the US banking system received an impetus for development and on the basis of which it works to this day. The essence of this legal document is as follows:
- American banks received a ban on securities transactions, with the exception of operations at the request of customers and in favor of customers (the so-called trust management).
- Creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Simply put, all deposits of more than 5 thousand are required to be insured.
- Revision of requirements for national banks for inclusion in the Fed.
It is worth noting that this act was revised in detail in 1999, when the Law on Financial Modernization was adopted, which enabled banking and financial holdings to carry out both investment and insurance activities.
Standings
US banks, whose rating will be given below in the article, are absolute leaders on the planet in terms of their capitalization, although competitors from the Middle Kingdom closely come close to them. Chinese financial giants also have a powerful money fist.
So, the list of foreign banks for a Russian person (that is, financial institutions of the United States) looks like this based on Forbes Global 2000:
- JPMorgan Chase - located in the state of New York and according to 2015 has assets in the amount of $ 2594 billion.
- Bank of America - has the largest customer network in the United States, which includes over 60 thousand branches throughout the country and approximately 18,700 ATMs.
- Citigroup - has in its ranks about 241 thousand employees.
- Wells Fargo - Its headquarters is based in San Francisco. The bank is focused on serving private clients and is quite far from investment activities.
- US Bancorp - in fact, is a multidisciplinary financial holding company, whose head office is in Minnesota.
- The Bank of New York Mellon - the bank has offices in 36 countries and is engaged in asset management and securities management, as well as provides treasury services.
- SunTrust Banks - in addition to insurance and loans, the bank is actively engaged in mortgages. The branch network covers southern states such as Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee and Florida.
Today
US commercial American banks are classified in the modern world as follows:
- By the degree of presence in the country: federal and state.
- By distribution: not having branches and having a whole network of branches.
In June 2018, the US Federal Reserve conducted “stress tests” and came to the unequivocal conclusion that the 35 largest banks in the country have enough money to withstand the most serious financial crisis without problems.
According to the Fed estimates, under the scenario of ten percent unemployment in the country, US banks will suffer losses in the amount of about 578 billion dollars, but the reserves of financial institutions would have remained in this situation above the required minimum. This testing was carried out as part of the Dodd-Frank reform, which was launched several years ago, and whose goal was to increase the level of capitalization of banks to confidently confront other crises in the future.