Top World’s Most Profitable Banks (You’ll Be Shocked at #1!)

The World’s Most Profitable Banks

I still remember vividly those days in my childhood when I first walked into our local bank branch holding my grandfather’s finger. He had an old, folded and slightly wrinkled passbook in his hand. He was patiently waiting in line to make a new entry in that passbook. When the clerk at the counter returned the passbook, I saw a unique, satisfied smile on my grandfather’s face. I asked, “Dada, what happened?” He smiled and said, “Son, the bank has earned some interest on our savings.” For our Indian and middle-class families, a bank is not just a place to save money, but a sacred symbol of our dreams, daughter’s marriage, son’s higher education and retirement security.

We all entrust our hard-earned money to the bank. But have you ever sat quietly and thought about how much money the banks in which we put our money earn? Today, when I was checking some statistics on the global economy and finance, I came to know about the most profitable banks in the world. These statistics are so huge and unimaginable that they are beyond the imagination of a common man. My eyes widened when I saw that the annual profit of these institutions is more than the total GDP of some countries! Let us understand the stories and human aspects behind these statistics today.

Source: Macrotrends (Net Profits in USD)

How did the most profitable banks in the world reach such a peak?

When we talk about profits, we think that it is all just a game of interest. But the reality is much bigger than that. The top and first ranked bank in this list is America’s ‘JPMorgan Chase’. You will be surprised to know that the net profit of this single bank is $57,048 million (about 57 billion dollars)! Just think, such a huge amount! This is not just a figure, it hides the home loan installments of millions of Americans, business transactions of large multinational companies and investments in stock markets around the world. The bank, which once started on a small scale, is today sitting like a king in the list of The most profitable banks in the world.

We always believe that you have to work hard to earn money. But these banks have created a system in such a way that the hard work of ordinary people like you and me results in their profits. This huge profit of JPMorgan Chase shows how strong capitalism is in the modern era.

Historical competition between China and America for the World’s Most Profitable Banks

We all know that there is a cut-throat competition going on in the world right now between only two economic superpowers – America and China. And a direct reflection of this competition is seen in this list. If we look at the top five banks, three of them are from China alone! The second-ranked ‘Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’ (ICBC) has a profit of $39,544 million. Then comes the third place ‘China Construction Bank’ (CCB) with $37,530 million and the fourth place ‘Agricultural Bank of China’ with $32,204 million.

Behind these figures are the savings of millions of Chinese workers, farmers and ordinary citizens. The habit of saving in Eastern countries has been ingrained for generations. People save a large part of their income in the bank for the future, and it is this savings that makes Chinese banks so powerful. That is why China’s dominance is clearly visible in the list of World’s Most Profitable Banks. In sixth place is ‘China Merchants Bank’ with $26,350 million and in seventh place is ‘Bank of China’ with $23,841 million. The true strength of China’s economy is hidden in the profits of these banks.

On the other hand, America’s ‘Bank of America’ stands at the fifth position with a profit of $29,174 million. Besides this, ‘Wells Fargo’ at the eighth position ($20,285 million), ‘Goldman Sachs’ at the ninth position ($16,300 million) and ‘Morgan Stanley’ at the tenth position ($16,249 million).

When you look at this list carefully, you will understand that this is not just a matter of money, this is a global power-play. The entire economic axis of the world rests on the banks of these countries. You must have heard somewhere that the most profitable banks in the world have a direct impact on our daily lives. When banks like Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley make their decisions, it has an impact on markets around the world, and ultimately on our household budgets.

It is worth noting that Europe and other countries are not far behind in this race. Spain’s ‘Banco Santander’ is maintaining its dominance at the international level with a profit of $15,028 million in eleventh place. Despite not being our neighboring country, Canada’s ‘Royal Bank of Canada’ (RBC) is in twelfth place with $14,184 million. This shows that the world’s most profitable banks are not limited to any one continent, their scope is spread across the globe. America’s ‘Citigroup’ ($13,705 million) is also holding its position firmly at thirteenth place.

France’s well-known bank ‘BNP Paribas’ is at fourteenth place with $12,834 million, while Britain’s internationally renowned bank ‘HSBC’ is at fifteenth place with a profit of $11,805 million. Each of these names has a trust on which millions of companies and people rely. The history of European banks is centuries old, and even today, when it comes to counting the most profitable banks in the world, their existence is of great importance. In this list, another Spanish bank ‘BBVA’ is at sixteenth place with $11,515 million, Italy’s ‘UniCredit’ is at seventeenth place with $11,303 million and France’s ‘Credit Agricole’ is at nineteenth place with $8,236 million. Finally, Switzerland, which is praised worldwide for its banking sector, also has its ‘UBS’ bank, which is ranked twentieth with a profit of $7,337 million. And yes, China’s ‘Bank of Communications’ ($10,578 million) comes in eighteenth once again.

Do these most profitable banks in the world affect our lives?

We often wonder, what does it matter to me if a bank in America or China earns billions of dollars? I run my savings account in a small branch in my village or city. But friends, the financial world is like a huge spider’s web. If there is a pull at one end, its tremors are felt throughout the web. When the profits of these world’s most profitable banks fluctuate, it has a direct impact on the world’s interest rates, inflation and employment.

Where do the billions of rupees that these banks earn come from? It comes from the interest on the home loan of a young father, who works day and night to give his daughter a good house. It comes from the business loan of a young entrepreneur, who takes risks to build the company of his dreams. When we look at these figures of world’s most profitable banks, let’s not just count the ‘zeros’ in them, but also the dreams, struggles and sweat of the crores of people behind them.

In my view, even though these banks earn billions of rupees, their true wealth is the trust of the people. The same trust that my grandfather had in that old passbook and clerk is still driving this global system today. Without that trust, these billion-dollar buildings would collapse like a house of cards. We are all a tiny drop in this vast global economic ocean, and it is millions of drops like us that make up this huge ocean of profits of these world’s most profitable banks.

So friends, whenever you go to the bank now or open the banking app on your mobile, remember that you are not just running your account, you are an important part of one of the most powerful economic chains in the world.