Largest European banks 2023, by market capitalization
As of December 31, 2023, there was only one European bank with a market capitalization of over 100 billion U.S. dollars. The UK-based HSBC had a market capitalization of roughly 156.17 billion U.S. dollars, by far the highest value in Europe. UBS ranked second, with a market cap of 99.9 billion U.S. dollars. Despite some fluctuations during the last decade, HSBC has continuously maintained the highest market cap among the largest European banks.
What is market capitalization?
Market capitalization, which is often used as a measurement of a company’s size, is calculated by multiplying the number of outstanding shares by the cost of one share. Market capitalization is an important metric for investors as it is simple to calculate and is also a good indicator for risk assessment. There are, however, many ways to measure the success of European banks, such as by total assets, revenue, or cost-to-income ratio (CIR), just to name a few.
European banks fall short globally
On a global scale, HSBC was the only European bank listed among the 15 largest banks worldwide as of December 2023. The U.S.-based bank JPMorgan Chase topped the worldwide ranking, with a market capitalization of over 491 billion U.S. dollars.
