Leading European banks ranked by pre-tax profits 2021

As of 2021, HSBC had the highest amount of pre-tax profit of the largest banks in Europe. HSBC had almost 19 billion U.S dollars in pre-tax profits that year. Pre-tax profit displays the amount of profit a company has made before paying corporate income taxes. Essentially, it is the calculation of deducting all expenses from revenue except taxes.

Tier 1 capital

Tier 1 capital displays the financial strength of a bank as it shows the bank’s core capital including equity capital and disclosed reserves. Regulators use tier 1 capital for the purpose of ensuring that banks have enough capital in case of unexpected losses. As of 2021, HSBC had the highest amount of tier 1 capital of any bank in Europe with over 160 billion U.S dollars. Although HSBC has the most in tier 1 capital, they did not make the list for best performing European banks for fully loaded CET1 capital ratios.

Leading banks in assets

Another way in measuring a banks strength, size and health is through its total assets. Total assets are one of the main measures of a bank's prosperity and is defined as all assets owned by a bank. This includes, but is not limited to; cash and balances, loans and advances to banks and customers, as well as debt securities. Europe’s largest bank in 2021 had almost than three trillion euros in total assets.