Europe's 50 largest banks by assets, 2023 (2024)

HSBC Holdings PLC narrowly retained its title as Europe's largest bank by assets, S&P Global Market Intelligence data shows.

TheUK-headquartered, Asia-focused bank had €2.681 trillion of assets at the end of 2022, just surpassing French lender BNP Paribas SA's total of €2.666 trillion.

Both banks grew assets during the year while also exiting some operations, notably in North America. HSBC agreed tosell its Canadian businessfor $10.1 billion in November 2022. It haspledged to distribute the sale proceedsasspecial dividends after shareholders were stung by payout suspensions. BNP Paribas recentlycompletedthe$16.3 billion saleof US-based Bank of the West.

HSBC added to its assets in March by taking over the UK operations of failed US lender Silicon Valley Bank. The deal gave HSBC more than £12 billion in additional loans and deposits for a purchase price of just £1.

France-based Crédit Agricole Group maintained its third spot in the rankings, with €2.379 trillion of assets. Banco Santander SAmoved into fourth place with assets totaling €1.735 trillion. The Spanish lender overtook UK-basedBarclays PLC, which posted €1.707 trillion of assets.

New powerhouse

UBS Group AG surged into sixth place in the rankings after jumping six spots, one of the biggest advances on the list. The Swiss lender's adjusted assets ballooned toabout €1.571 trillion due to agovernment-orchestrated merger with Credit Suisse Group AG, Market Intelligence data shows.Excluding Credit Suisse, the bank's total assets stood at €1.033 trillion. The combination catapulted UBS pastlenders including Deutsche Bank AG, as well as the French trio of Société Générale SA, Groupe BPCEand Crédit Mutuel Group.

UBS will become the second-largest global wealth management franchise and third-largest European asset manager by invested assets following the combination, it said in March. It plans todownsize Credit Suisse's investment bankandwind down the division's noncore portfoliowhile keeping the Swiss unit. Most of the integration process will be completed within 3 or 4 years, according to UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher.

Italian lender Intesa Sanpaolo SpA's assets fell below €1 trillion, pushing it down three ranking spots to 12th. The bank hassaidthat it reduced risk-weighted assets inthe fourth quarter of 2022 ahead of 2023 regulatory changes. It was working tocut as much as €20 billionof risk-weighted assets to address European Central Bank concerns over risk calculations, Bloomberg News reported in January, citing unnamed sources.

New entrants

Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Ziraat Bankasi ASentered the list at number 48, with assets of €127.66 billion.

Germany's Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale also joined the rankings, with €109.33 billion in assets.

France, the UK and Germany each had six lenders in the top 50, followed by Italy with five and Spain with four. The French banks had the highest combined assets at almost€10 trillion and all six were in the top 20.