The October issue of Global Finance magazine featured The World’s Top Ten Safest Banks for 2008.
The Banks were selected based on:
- A comparison of the long-term credit ratings (issued by S&P, Moody’s and Fitch’s)
- Total assets
of the 300 largest banks in the world.
The World’s Top Ten Safest Banks 2008:
| Groupe Caisse des Depots [CDC] | France |
| Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten [BNG] | The Netherlands |
| Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank | Germany |
| Rabobank | Netherlands |
| Landeskreditbank Baden-Wuerttemberg-Foderbank | Germany |
| Lloyds TSB | United Kingdom |
| BNP Paribas | France |
| Dexia | Belgium |
| Wells Fargo | United States |
| NRW Bank | Germany |
Of the above ten banks, Lloyds TSB (LYG) , BNP Paribas (BNPQY.PK) and Wells Fargo (WFC) are listed in the USA.
In September Lloyds Bank of UK agreed to acquire U.K.’s biggest mortgage lender HBOS plc for a fire-sale price of £12.2 billion ($21.8 billion) in an all stock deal. Lloyds will offer 0.605 shares for every 1 HBOS share. Lloyds raised a total of £5.5 billion from the British Government by selling ordinary shares for £4.5 billion and preference shares for £1 billion. The current yield on LYG is 12.76% but the dividend may be suspended till 2010 as part of the requirement of the government rescue package.
Last month Wells Fargo, the largest bank on the US West Coast, announced a deal to acquire Charlotte, North Carolina-based Wachovia (WB) for about $15.1 in stock. To fund this deal, Wells Fargo raised about $11B in a stock offering on November 7. It priced the sale at $27/share below the Nov 7 closing price of $29.50. The current yield of WFC is 3.99%.
The Paris, France-based BNP Paribas trades on the OTC market and pays a dividend of 7.21%. Year-to-Date the stock is down about 35%. In 3Q 08, profit fell 56% for this French banking giant. BNP Paribas also announced that will take control of the troubled Dutch financial group Fortis’s Belgium and Luxembourg operations.
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This article has 12 comments:
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User 197175
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27 Comments
Nov 10 04:41 PM-
thedozer
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162 Comments
Nov 10 06:23 PMwhere was the Fed on that list???
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The hand
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752 Comments
My Website
Nov 10 09:45 PM-
Lilliana
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27 Comments
Nov 11 07:35 AMThe stock is at a "giveaway " price now...due to a proposed merger/take-over of HBOS another bank in the UK.
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SeeTheLight
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24 Comments
Nov 11 08:24 AMCDS and mortgage based derivatives were ranked AAA by Moody's and S&P. Worth pennies on the dollar now, but still worth more than the value of those so called expert ratings.
Not having one Canadian bank (the 2nd safest banking system in the world), all of whom largely avoided the current financial crisis shows how valuable this list is.
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User 13958
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27 Comments
Nov 11 09:14 AM-
notsosmart
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1222 Comments
Nov 11 09:09 PM-
setterguy
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1 Comment
Nov 12 08:58 AMShortly after this list was published the Belgium Govt injected 9.2 billion into Dexia to keep it afloat.
biz.yahoo.com/ap/08093...
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affinor
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5 Comments
Nov 19 12:39 AMThe real challenge is to find ones which have preserved shareholder equity. I think none of the above banks can claim that. Not atleast, BNP Paribas and Lloyds TSB.
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Jeremiah Fitzmonkey
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1 Comment
Nov 19 03:18 PMThanks.
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TopForeignStocks
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59 Comments
My Website
Nov 19 06:42 PMRankings are based on "long-term credit ratings and
total assets".Its not exactly clear whether these banks are safe for investors or for depositors from what I can glean from the Global Finance Magazine. It simply says "The World’s Safest Banks were selected through a
comparison of the long-term credit ratings and
total assets of the 300 largest banks around the
world. Ratings from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s
and Fitch were used.
This is the 16th year that Global Finance has
published its list of the world’s largest banks
ranked by their creditworthiness. The 10 banks
at the top of the list are designated as the
“World’s Safest Banks".
Others - Thanks for the comments.
-David
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Banker of Canada
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12 Comments
Dec 22 11:06 PMA report conducted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has placed Canada at the top of the pile, just above the likes of Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia.
The statistics have been compiled based on information provided by 12,000 corporate executives throughout the world. A system of rating the banking systems of individual countries was conducted by participants answering a number of questions and rating the banks on a scale of one to seven, one being in need of government support seven being entirely healthy.
Canada’s baking system, lead by Royal bank, CIBC, Scotiabank, TD Bank, Bank of Montreal and National Bank, received the highest rank in the world, scoring 6.8 on the rating scale.
The top 10 safest countries for banking are currently as follows:
Canada (6.8)
Sweden (6.7)
Luxembourg (6.7)
Australia (6.7)
Denmark (6.7)
Netherlands (6.7)
Belgium (6.6)
New Zealand (6.6)
Ireland (6.6)
Malta (6.6)
THIS IS A LIE ABOUT WELLS FARGO IS ON THE IMPODE LIST
ml-implode.com/
At number 187. Wells Fargo - Home Equity