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| Only one U.S. financial institutions is among the world’s 25 safest banks, according to a recent ranking. That bank is also the most admired mortgage-related company.Global Finance recently released the World’s 50 Safest Banks 2009. The ranking was a mid-year update of its full report.
The 500 largest banks from around the globe were analyzed based on a comparison of their total assets and long-term credit ratings from Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Fitch Ratings. Germany’s KfW was ranked as the safest bank in the world by Global Finance. The remaining top five were Caisse des Depots et Consignations of France; Bank Nederlands Gemeenten of the Netherlands; Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank of Germany; and Rabobank of the Netherlands. The top-ranking U.S. bank was Wells Fargo & Co., according to Global Finance. The San Francisco-based bank was No. 21. Wells also was the highest ranking mortgage-related company in FORTUNE’s World’s Most Admired Companies 2009. It came in at No. 14. The magazine called Wells a “strong, Western U.S.-focused retail bank, shunning costly acquisitions and Wall Street.” The next highest ranking American institution was Minneapolis-based US Bancorp, which was No. 26 on the list of safest banks. JPMorgan Chase & Co. was No. 47 on Global Finance’s list. The New York-based company was the second highest ranking mortgage-related company on FORTUNE’s most admired list, at No. 20. “If there’s any swagger left on Wall St., JPMorgan has it,” FORTUNE said. “Widely hailed as a remarkable survivor of the financial crisis, chief executive officer Jamie Dimon is perhaps the most admired man in finance, mostly for dodging the subprime bullet.” Bank of America Corp. came in at No. 26 on FORTUNE’s ranking, making it the third most admired mortgage-related company. American Express, which recently converted to a bank-holding company, was the 29th most admired company. |
