THE EUROMONEY BANK ATLAS 1996: Strongest banks of the world

LISTING OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST BANKS  and TABLE OF COUNTRY RANKINGS at the end of the article. After four years as the largest bank in the world, Sumitomo Bank of Japanhas finally been knocked off the top spot in this year's survey. Since itis the first major Japanese bank so far to announce provisions for bad debt,this is hardly surprising - it announced losses of $3.2 billion in 1995,the first Japanese bank ever to record a deficit. The slight fall in capital(0.42%) drops Sumitomo to sixth place in the rankings. With the merger of Mitsubishi and Bank of Tokyo not taking effect untilApril 1 1996 (and thus too late for inclusion in our rankings), HSBC's $26,665million equity figures put it in first place. The UK-based bank also madethe most profits last year with $3.8 billion, nearly a billion dollars morethan its nearest rival, Chase - newly formed from the merger...