The Top Banks in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland

With all the financial turmoil in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to keep up with the rankings of the world’s banks. Big European and German banks have not been immune to the world credit crisis precipitated by the 2007 US mortgage disaster and the later Greek euro emergencies. Some once highly ranked German banks no longer exist (e.g., Dresdner Bank). The world has been discovering how closely intertwined the US, European, Asian, and other world financial institutions really are.

Go to:
German Banks | Austrian Banks | Swiss Banks | World Banks

The Deutsche Bank twin towers in Frankfurt am Main, with a statue of the German poet Friedrich Schiller in the foreground. PHOTO: Hyde Flippo

Deutsche Bank today remains by far the largest German bank, with assets of 1.33 trillion euros in December 2020. Worldwide, Deutsche ranked 21st, as of August 2021. No other German bank ranks in global the top 50. The next two largest German banks have assets that are only about a fourth of Deutsche Bank’s. But with all the economic turmoil in the world these days, such rankings can change quickly. Banking experts have criticized Germany’s current banking system for being too fragmented and uncompetitive. German bank customers are far less likely to change banks than most other nationalities.

Not that long ago Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, was also number one in the world, based on total assets. By 2012 it ranked third in the world, with only China’s ICBC bank (No. 1) and the UK’s HSBC bank (No. 2) placing higher. Four years later, as of April 2016, Deutsche Bank had dropped to number seven in the world by total assets. As of 2018, the top four banks in the world were Chinese, and Deutsche was number eleven. Number five is the French bank BNP Parabas SA. Number six is the American JPMorgan Chase Bank. Swiss banks have also had their own problems. UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, dropped to 35th in the world (2018), and is no longer included in our list of the world’s top 25 banks below. Credit Suisse AG, with $819.4 USD in assets, now ranks 41st globally.

Because German banks currently play no major global role, financial experts have long recommended that Germany’s two top commercial banks, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank (ranked only 4th in 2020), be merged to create a stronger single bank that could better compete internationally. But that never happened. American, Chinese, French, and Japanese banks all have higher assets and influence worldwide than any German bank. (See the world rankings below.)

German Banks and Financial Institutions

The top 10 financial institutions in Germany
Germany: Please note that there are several ways to rank banks. The lists below rank by total assets (Bilanzsumme in German). Market capitalization is another measure of bank rankings.
Ranked by total assets (2020), with headquarters city, assets in euros (EUR):

1. Deutsche Bank AG (Frankfurt a.M., 1.33 trillion)
2. DZ Bank AG (Frankfurt a.M., 595 billion)*
3. KfW Group* (Frankfurt a.M., 546 billion)
4. Commerzbank (Frankfurt a.M., 507 billion)
5. HypoVereinsbank (UniCredit SpA, Italy) (Munich, 338 billion)
6. Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart, 276.4 billion)
7. Bayrische Landesbank (BayernLB) (Munich, 256.3 billion)
8. Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba) (Frankfurt a.M., Erfurt, 219.3 billion)
9. NRW.BANK (Düsseldorf, Münster, 155.8 billion)
10. Norddeutsche Landesbank (Nord/LB) (Hanover, 126.5 billion)

*KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau) is not a retail bank. It was founded in 1948 to help finance rebuilding the country. Today it is a government-owned (80% federal; 20% states) investment and development institution.
**DZ Bank operates under the Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken brands.
Sources: Bank-provided info, Bank Rankings – Accuity, and Banken in Deutschland (2018, de.wikipedia.org)

Germany’s Banking Culture

Germany’s three large commercial retail banks (Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, and HypoVereinsbank) together only control about 15 percent of the retail banking market. The 403 non-profit independent Sparkassen, or savings banks, most owned by local municipalities all across Germany, had a 37 percent share of the retail market in 2016, and a 28 percent market share in local business lending. Germany also has 970 co-operative banks (Raiffeisenbanken, Volksbanken, under DZ Bank AG), a group that forms the second largest banking segment, with a retail market share of around 27 percent.

Germany’s “three-column” banking system (1. commercial banks, 2. Sparkassen, 3. Raiffeisen/Volksbanken) is now facing several challenges. The number of bank branches continues to drop. Currently there are about 1,900 financial institutions (Kreditinstitute) in Germany, down from 2,400 in 2004. But Germany still has a higher number of bank branches per population than most other European nations: one for every 2,500 Germans, compared to one per 6,000 inhabitants elsewhere. However, one recent study predicts a drastic 90 percent drop in coming years.

A growing banking segment in Germany is made up of the so-called Direktbanken (direct banks, fintechs) that have no branches and offer lower cost banking only online and/or via a smartphone app or a regular telephone. Examples include Comdirect, DKB Cash, 1822direkt, N26, O2 Banking, and netbank.

For more about German banking, see Banks & Money and How to Open a Bank Account in Germany.

Austrian Banks and Financial Institutions

None of Austria’s banks and financial institutions is included in recent rankings of top 50 world banks. The five largest Austrian banks by assets are in the list below. After Austrian banks expanded into eastern Europe, they encountered problems during the 2007-2008 mortgage crisis. Over the years Austrian banks have been sold, dissolved, or merged with other institutions. Creditanstalt, once a leading Austrian bank, no longer exists. In 1997, the state-owned Creditanstalt shares were sold to Bank Austria, which in turn was taken over by Italy’s UniCredit Group in 2005. UniCredit also owns Germany’s Munich-based HypoVereinsbank.

The top 5 financial institutions in AUSTRIA
Ranked by total assets (2020), with headquarters city, assets in euros (EUR):

1. Erste Group (Vienna, 305 billion)
2. Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) (Vienna, 176 billion [2021])
3. RZB Group (Raiffeisen Zentralank Österreich AG) (Vienna, $159 billion USD [2016])
4. Bank Austria (UniCredit Bank Austria AG*) (Vienna, 118.5 billion)
5. BAWAG P.S.K. (Vienna, 53 billion)
6. Volksbanken-Verbund (Vienna, 70 billion [2014])

*Bank Austria is 96.35% owned by Italy’s UniCredit Group (since 2005).

An Austrian “Bankomat” ATM screen with multilingual instructions. PHOTO: Hyde Flippo

Swiss Banks and Financial Institutions

Switzerland’s two top banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, are among the world’s top 50 banks.

The top 5 financial institutions in SWITZERLAND
Ranked by total assets (2020), with headquarters city, assets in Swiss francs (CHF):

1. Credit Suisse (Zurich, 851 billion)
2. UBS AG (UBS Switzerland) (Zurich, 317 billion)
3. Zurich Cantonal Bank (ZKB) (Zurich, 188 billion)
4. Julius Baer Group (Zurich, 109 billion)
5. Banque cantonale de Genève (BCGE) (Geneva, 27.5 billion)
6. Migros Bank AG (Zurich, 50.8 billion)

Top World Banks: August 2021

The world’s largest banks ranked by total assets (by accuity.com)

The top 25 financial institutions in the world
Ranked by total assets, with country, assets in US dollars (USD):
Note: Deutsche Bank AG, the only German bank on the list, is ranked 21st.
Accounting methods affect the assets reported. The United States uses US GAAP (as opposed to IFRS), which only reports the net derivative position in most cases, leading to US banks on the list (Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citibank) having a lower asset figure than comparable non-US banks.

1. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (China, 5.1 trillion)
2. China Construction Bank Corp. (China, 4.3 trillion)
3. Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. (China, 4.2 trillion)
4. Bank of China Limited (China, 3.7 trillion)
5. BNP Paribas SA (France, 3.05 trillion)
6. JPMorgan Chase Bank NA (USA, 3.03 trillion)
7. Crédit Agricole SA (France, 2.4 trillion)
8. China Development Bank Corp. (China, 2.4 trillion)
9. MUFG Bank Ltd (Japan, 2.35 trillion)
10. Bank of America NA (USA, 2.3 trillion)
11. Japan Post Bank Co. Ltd. (Japan, 2.02 trillion)
12. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (Japan, 1.9 trillion)
13. Banco Santander SA (Spain, 1.85 trillion)
14. Mizuho Bank Ltd. (Japan, 1.8 trillion)
15. Société Générale (France, 1.79 trillion)
16. BPCE (France, 1.77 trillion)
17. Wells Fargo Bank NA (USA, 1.76 trillion)
18. Postal Savings Bank of China Co Ltd (China, 1.74 trillion)
19. Citibank NA (USA, 1.66 trillion)
20. Bank of Communication Co. Ltd. (China, 1.64 trillion)
21. Deutsche Bank AG (Germany, 1.63 trillion)
22. Barclays Bank PLC (United Kingdom, 1.45 trillion)
23. The Toronto-Dominion Bank Co. Ltd. (Canada, 1.29 trillion)
24. China Merchants Bank Co. Ltd. (China, 1.28 trillion)
25. Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (Italy, 1.23 trillion)

Source: Accuity.com: Bank Rankings (Top 50)

Next | Banks & Money in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

Related Pages
AT THE GERMAN WAY

• How to Open a Bank Account in Germany – A GW expat how-to guide
• About N26 – The Mobile Bank – Our guide to this Berlin-based online bank and its smartphone approach to banking
• Banks & Money in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• The Euro in Germany and Austria
• International Money Transfers to or from Germany and Europe

ON THE WEB

• Bank Rankings – Top Banks in the World – 50 banks ranked by assets in USD (accuity.com)
• Top Banks in the World 2019 – 122 banks ranked by assets (relbanks.com)

Legal Notice: We are not responsible for the content of external links.