LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN (LAC) BANKS AMONG THE TOP 1000 WORLD BANKS REPORT

This year, The Bankers report on the Top 1000 World Banks measured by Tier-1 Capital (*) featured 67 FSI
LAC institutions! Brazilian banks stayed on top, the big four certainly are among the Top 100 banks in the
world, while Argentina maintains its status as most profitable, despite mounting challenges and 2015 being
an electoral year, the Venezuelan institutions dominate the top 10 for Tier 1 capital growth and to a lesser
extent the top 10 for asset growth. Venezuelan Banco Nacional del Credito posted an 85.72% Tier 1 increase,
the highest in the entire ranking. BAC Panama stands out in the Venezuela dominated top 10 for capital
growth. The Colombian owned bank posted a 65.13% capital increase as the parent successfully integrated its
recent acquisitions, Guatemalas Grupo Reformador and BBVA Panama, into its Panamanian unit
A Quick View to the Top 10 World Banks 2015.
As in last year, the Top 10 World Banks were predominantly Chinese and US based banks, with one UK and
one Japanese bank, but basically the same names with slightly different rank.
Rank
2015
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Rank
2014

Change
1 None
2 None
3 None
7
4
9
6
8 None
5
10 None

Name
ICBC
China Construction Bank
JPMorgan Chase & Co
Bank of China
Bank of America
Agricultural Bank of China
Citigroup
Wells Fargo & Co
HSBC Holdings
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group

Country
China
China
US
China
US
China
US
US
UK
Japan

When reviewing the Top 1000 World Banks 2015 report, by country and including FOS (Foreign Owned
Subsidiaries, i.e. BBVA in Argentina), the number of banks operating in LAC grew from 67 to 119. Further
analysis showed that the majority of the banks concentrated in Asia and Europe, as showed in the next graph:

Top 1000 World Banks per Continent

1%

4%

24%
30%

Africa
Americas
Asia
Europa
Oceania

41%
Latin American Banks.
Today we will concentrate only in those banks from our region which are listed in the above mentioned report
and not including FOS. Most of the LAC banks in this report have been regularly listed, certainly having the
ones from Brazil leading the team as we mentioned earlier. In total we found 67 banks, no real surprises, few
new entrants or comebacks like: Banco Compartamos (Mexico), Banrural (Guatemala), Banco Fondo Comun
(Venezuela), and Banco del Pacifico (Ecuador). In separate article we have shared Compartamos performance
showing the excellent operational indexes/ratios they manage.
Something important to notice is the ascension of the Venezuelans banks, their Tier-1 growth is remarkable,
and from the 67 banks, Venezuela has 9 banks (13%), second to Brazil with 15 banks listed (22%).
Last year we saw Banco de Bogota as the strongest bank in Colombia, this has changed and now Bancolombia
(rank 244) is the leading bank in the country. The graphic below aims to show the distribution of these 67
banks across LAC countries:

More detail on the banks and their positions in the 2015 Top 1000 World Banks report are listed below:

Latin American Banks in the TOP 1000 WORLD BANKS 2015 - The Banker by
Tier-1
No. 2015 2014 Change
1
41
38
2
49
39
3
56
54
4
63
58
5 186 199
6 210 260
7 212 318
8 217 209
9 221 298
10 230 247
11 238 227
12 244 285
13 252 212
14 265 358
15 259 286
16 284 276
17 317 329
18 365 350
19 396 392
20 406 427
21 469 659
22 485 491
23 547 436
24 561 525
25 587 760
26 591 612
27 615 611
28 636 n/a
29 641 574
30 642 662
31 648 788
32 650 653
33 663 620
34 664 689
35 676 642

Name
Ita Unibanco Holding
Banco do Brasil
Bradesco
Caixa Economica Federal
Banco BTG Pactual
Mercantil Servicios Financieros
Banesco Banco Universal
Grupo Financiero BANORTE
Banco de la Nacion Argentina
Banco Inbursa
Banco de Chile
Bancolombia
Popular
Banco de Venezuela
Banco Safra
Banco de Bogota
Banco de Credito del Peru
Corpbanca
Barisul
Banco del Estado de Chile
Banco Occidental del Descuento
First Bancorp
Banco Davivienda
Banco do Nordeste do Brasil
Banco del Caribe
Banco General de Panama
Banco de la Republica
Banco Bicentenario
Banco de Occidente
Banco Galicia
Banco de la Amazonia
Interbank
Banco Daycoval
Republic Bank
Banco Macro

Country
Brazil
Brazil
Brazil
Brazil
Brazil
Venezuela
Venezuela
Mexico
Argentina
Mexico
Chile
Colombia
Puerto Rico
Venezuela
Brazil
Colombia
Peru
Chile
Brazil
Chile
Venezuela
Puerto Rico
Colombia
Brazil
Venezuela
Panama
Uruguay
Venezuela
Colombia
Argentina
Brazil
Peru
Brazil
Trinidad&Tobago
Argentina

36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
62
64
65
66
67

677
697
734
743
745
748
751
755
811
821
843
845
852
857
858
860
874
875
877
885
907
928
938
947
953
961
962
968
978
979
994
998

686
721
744
738
774
962
750
687
756
811
915
889
926
871
916
842
851
885
n/a
924
906
n/a
873
n/a
859
922
932
n/a
887
950
980
949

Bladex
Grupo Financiero Pichincha
Banco del Bajio
Banco Popular
Banco Azteca
Banco Nacional de Credito
OFG Bancorp
Banco Original
Banco Popular
Grupo Financiero Interacciones
Banco de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires
Banco Security
Banco Regional de Monterrey (BanRegio)
Banco BICE
Banco Nacional de Costa Rica
Banco Hipotecario del Uruguay
Banco Nacional de Panama
Banco Provincia
Banco Compartamos
Banco de Costa Rica
Banco Popular Dominicano
Venezolano de Credito
Parana Banco
Banco Fondo Comun
Banco Agrario de Colombia
Banco Alfa
Banco de la Nacion
Banco del Pacifico
Banco Hipotecario
Banco de Brasilia
Banestes
Banca Caja Social

Panama
Ecuador
Mexico
Costa Rica
Mexico
Venezuela
Puerto Rico
Brazil
Colombia
Mexico
Argentina
Chile
Mexico
Chile
Costa Rica
Uruguay
Panama
Argentina
Mexico
Costa Rica
Republica Dominicana
Venezuela
Brazil
Venezuela
Colombia
Brazil
Peru
Ecuador
Argentina
Brazil
Brazil
Colombia

Reviewing the chart above, it is interesting to mention that most banks show a tendency to grow, 35 banks
have grown while 32 decreased.
Brazil is having problems as the major banks seem to have reduced their Tier-1 capital, the country is facing
high inflation from 6,41 last December 2014 to 9,56 last July 2015, and due to some corruption allegations the
financial climate seems to be uncertain.

Finally with the Chinese economy decelerating quite rapidly, the USD gaining strength against most currencies,
the possible rate increase from the FED, presidential elections in the US, some countries facing the weather
phenomena called El Nio, no doubt 2016 promises to be rather challenging. This would have an impact in
most financial markets and most likely Banking investments would be quite conservative.