2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16
The top largest banks in the world are represented by institutions of the People's Republic of China. The share of China 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 bank. For the sixth year in a row, this credit institution has been ranked first in the Global 2000 ranking, which is compiled annually by Forbes magazine. The volume of assets of the largest bank in the world is $3.47 trillion.
In Frankfurt on July 20, a memorandum on mutual cooperation between the largest bank in China - ICBC - and the German "Commerzbank" was signed. The interaction within the framework of the "Belt and Road" concerns operations in the capital market, international trade and investment in large projects. The largest bank in the world considers this event a new level of relations between Asia and the European Union.
Second place involume of assets
In second place is the China Construction Bank with $3.02 trillion in assets. 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 infrastructure of the Middle Kingdom. The peculiarity of this bank lies in the application of an innovative approach to customer service: only robotic mechanisms work in the branches of this credit institution. Client identification is carried out by scanning his face with a robot.
Third place
The Agricultural Bank of China ranks third in the world with $2.82 trillion in assets. It was founded in 1951 by Mao Zedong. The purpose of the institution was to lend 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, the total volume of its assets is 2.60 trillion dollars. This is a group of financial institutions, the oldest 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. It was the first Chinese bank to enter the international market.
Fifth place
Fifth place was taken by the Japanese bank MUFG - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial. The volume of assets of this financial group is 2.59 trillion dollars. The headquarters of the banking holding is located in Osaka. Formed by the merger of two banks, the institution is included in the ranking 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 is opened by England, HSBC bank. The English abbreviation stands for "Banking Corporation of Hong Kong and Shanghai". The institution was founded in 1865 to subsidize trade between Europe and Asian countries. The bank also financed the opium trade.
The world's largest bank outnumbers HSBC by only $1 trillion in assets. In addition, at the beginning of 2018, at the general meeting of shareholders, a decision was made to diversify the bank: now branches will be opened in Africa and the Middle East. The new offices will also start operating in Europe. All these actions are designed to improve the efficiency of banking, expand the network of branches and strengthen the position of the financial institution.
In second place in the world of European banks - BNP Paribas ("BNP Paribas"). Formed at the beginning of the century from the merger of a retail and investment institution.
France is more successful in the banking sector than Switzerland or the US due to the absence of a lot of restrictions. For example, in many countries banks are prohibited from 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,passing through the bank, overtakes 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 funds to develop and maintain their activities. "Credit Agricole" allowed peasant farmers' unions to create branches of the bank. Such micro-organizations owned the bank and acted on the principles of cooperation and mutual assistance. This package of measures has proven effective as a real support for agriculture in the villages and outlying provinces of France.
The story of the most daring robberies
The history of the banking sector knows cases of complete emptying of depositories. The largest bank robberies in the world took place in Europe.
In 1987, two robbers entered the London bank Knightsbridge. They used the main entrance like ordinary visitors. Reporting the need to check their bank cells, they disabled security officers and stole $112 million from the bank.
The second largest bank robbery occurred in Brazil, in the city of Fortaleza. It was planned and carried out with enviable method. The robbers entered the institution's vault through a tunnel that was prepared in advance and even equipped with electricity.
In Ireland in 2004, criminals kidnapped an employee and director of a bank in Belfast. Family members of bank employees were taken hostage. Underthreatening the lives of their loved ones, the director and employee opened a depository, from which 50 million dollars were stolen.
Despite the above cases, pulling off a bank robbery these days is almost impossible. Modern designs of depositories, cash registers are built on the principle of a frame, reinforced with steel sheets more than 5 millimeters thick.
Robbery without violence
By the way, the risk of armed robbery of a financial institution today is minimized. The priority is the protection of information and banking data from hacker attacks. The information available in the database can be distorted, become the subject of blackmail or speculation, money can be stolen from accounts without access to the vault. An experienced hacker can do this from the comfort of your home.
The daring robbery of Citibank (USA) was carried out in the mid-1990s by Russian hacker Vladimir Levin, who hacked into the bank's internal system via the Internet. He stole over $10 million and deposited it in installments in banks around the world. Most of the money was returned, but about $400,000 was not found.
Information security is based on modern software, employee access control (most often it is bank employees who cause information leakage), complex, multi-level encryption.
The state-of-the-art security system gives the largest bank in the world and its closest competitors confidence in the reliability of security systems, and their depositors - a guarantee of capital safety.
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