MARKET CAPITALIZATION MAY be a crude and volatile measure but it is a closely watched barometer of performance for senior executives and investors alike. And shifts in relative market capitalization may provide useful clues to future M&A activity in global financial services. Citigroup tops the rankings, with a market capitalization at the end of the first quarter of this year of $255 billion putting it in a class of its own. It is worth more than double its closest banking rivals, HSBC and Bank of America, which have market capitalizations of $108 billion and $104 billion respectively.
Indeed the financial institution with the market capitalization closest to Citigroup isn't a bank but an insurance company, AIG (American International Group). Its market capitalization of $188 billion is still $67 billion below Citigroup's - that difference being equivalent to the values of Fannie Mae, UBS, or Lloyds TSB, which all rank among the worlds' top 10 banks.