World's 50 Safest Banks 2009

New York, August 25, 2009 — With bank stability still high on corporate and investor agendas,Global Finance publishes its 18th annual list of the world’s safest banks. After two tumultuous years that saw many of the world’s most respected banks drop out of the top-50 safest banks list, the dust appears to be settling. Those banks that kept an iron grip on their risk exposure before the financial crisis blew up have consistently topped the table and maintain their standing among the top echelon in this year’s ranking. At the same time, the big name banks that lost their safest bank ranking during the credit crunch are still absent from the list as they struggle to rebuild their credit standing. The “World’s 50 Safest Banks” 2009 were selected through a comparison of the long-term credit ratings and total assets of the 500 largest banks around the world. Ratings from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch were used. Global Finance has published its “World’s Safest Banks” listing for 18 years and this ranking has become a recognized and trusted standard of creditworthiness for the entire financial world. “It’s been a bumpy two years for the rating agencies and many of the banks they evaluate,”says Global Finance publisher Joseph D. Giarraputo. “More than ever customers all around the world are viewing long term creditworthiness as the key feature of the banks with which they do business.”

Global FInance, which celebrates its 22nd year of publishing in 2009, has 50,000 subscribers and more than 180,000 readers in over 158 countries. This audience includes chairmen, presidents, CEOs, CFOs, treasurers, and other financial officers responsible for making Investments and strategic business decisions for large global companies and financial institutions. Global Finance also targets the 8,000 key portfolio investors who control over 80% of all assets under professional management.

http://www.gfmag.com/tools/bank-rankings/2341-worlds-50-safest-banks-2009.html

 

I posted a thread about this. I even asked the rhetorical question about the, to me anyways, most salient point RE: S&P and Moodys did the ratings on these "most healthy banks".
We're supposed to believe S&P and Moodys????

 

Some of the banks rated as safest in 2007 by Global Finance had to be rescued last year.
http://www.gfmag.com/archives/36-36-october-2007/997-features--the-worlds-safest-banks-2007.html

#6 UBS
#7 Lloyds TSB
#11 CITIBANK
#14 Jerome Kerviel's Socie'te' Ge'ne'rale
#24 Bank of America
#25 HBOS

I see lots of spanish banks this time around hmmmmm.

 

I completely agree with your point. That said I believe it was the IMF or OECD that stated Canada had some of the safest banks so that matches fairly well with that list.

 

http://www.thedeal.com/dealscape/2009/03/and_the_safest_us_bank_iswells.php

 

have to wonder what Global's criteria is for rating banks
also don't think one can rate banks in isolation, one has to first rate the country's
financial system as a whole thereby understanding how banks function within
the system - what they can and can't do - get away with ??
a major difference between Canada/US banks is mortgage regulation and the
extract below explains some of that; don't know if Canadian banks are into CFDs,
derivatives, etc or what if any Canadian regulation controls or prevents their use
haven't heard much about them

'Know Thy Neighbor: What Canada Can Tell Us About Financial Regulation'
Pietro S. Nivola, John C. Courtney : The Brookings Institution
"Second, the requirements for mortgage loans are relatively stringent.
Down payments of at least 20 percent are ordinarily required, unless the bank
obtains mortgage insurance through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The CMHC exerts a prudential influence over mortgage underwriting. Banks rely
extensively on it for default insurance, which is conditioned on comparatively strict
criteria for creditworthiness. (Private insurers operate as well, but they, too, are
held to relatively exacting standards since they benefit from a partial government
guarantee.) Sub-prime mortgages are not unheard of in Canada, but the stiffer
standards for lending have kept them to a minimum. In 2006, for example, sub-primes
amounted to less than five percent of the country’s total mortgage originations,
compared to over 20 percent in the United States."
http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2009/0423_canada_nivola.aspx

 

The fact that any given bank can go from 'among the worlds safest' to 'insolvent' in less than 2 years ----
tells you all you need to know about a survey like this...

 

It's kind of sad that the US doesn't even have a bank in the top 30...

 

Bank of North Dakota should be in the top 10:

http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=159034&highlight=bank

The only state-run bank, safe and sound...

 

Sure lotta socialist countries on that durn list....
Sure lotta people buying cars from socialist countries...
Sure lotta people in socialist countries approve of their healthcare....

But remember kids, Socialism doesn't work.