21 of 500

21. HSBC Holdings

Get Quote: HBC

Financials: Latest Results

Rank: 21 (Previous rank: 20)
CEO: Michael F. Geoghegan
Employees: 331,458
Address: 8 Canada Sq.
London, E14 5HQ
Country: Britain
Website: www.hsbc.com

Subprime was the story at Europe's biggest bank in 2008. More to the point, U.S. subprime. HSBC earnings fell by 70% during the year as $15.5 billion in losses at its North American operations doomed the bank. Most of the losses came from its ill-timed acquisition of Illinois-based subprime lender Household International in 2003.

Still, the bank's diversification into emerging markets (where it earns about three fourths of profits) has paid off. HSBC turned a worldwide profit of nearly $6 billion in 2008 as Hong Kong and European operations bailed out U.S. operations. But as HSBC closes retail locations in the U.S. to stop the bloodletting, analysts now worry that slowing Asian economies will be this year's story for HSBC.

	$ millions	% change from 2007
Revenues	142,049.0	-3.0
Profits	5,728.0	-70.1
Assets	2,527,465.0	—
Stockholders' equity	93,591.0	—

Profits as % of
Revenues	4.0
Assets	0.2

Industry: Banks: Commercial and Savings

Rank	Company	Global 500 rank	Revenues ($ millions)
1	ING Group	8	226,577.0
2	Dexia Group	16	161,268.8
3	HSBC Holdings	21	142,049.0


4	BNP Paribas	24	136,096.4
5	Banco Santander	35	117,803.0
6	Bank of America Corp.	37	113,106.0
7	Royal Bank of Scotland	38	113,087.4
8	Citigroup	39	112,372.0
9	Soci�t� G�n�rale	43	104,378.3
10	Cr�dit Agricole	46	103,582.1
11	J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.	49	101,491.0
12	UniCredit Group	58	94,036.0
13	Deutsche Bank	70	81,360.4
14	Barclays	83	75,135.5
15	Industrial & Commercial Bank of China	92	70,567.5
16	HBOS	107	62,400.5
17	Morgan Stanley	108	62,262.0
18	Groupe Caisse d'�pargne	110	61,550.9
19	Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria	113	61,183.5
20	UBS	119	59,881.8
21	China Construction Bank	125	57,976.9
22	Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group	128	56,513.7
23	Goldman Sachs Group	136	53,579.0
24	Intesa Sanpaolo	137	52,947.3
25	Wells Fargo	141	51,652.0
26	Bank of China	145	51,317.2
27	Banco Bradesco	148	50,930.1
28	Ita�sa-Investimentos Ita�	149	50,215.7
29	Agricultural Bank of China	155	48,063.2
30	Landesbank Baden-W�rttemberg	162	46,136.8
31	Credit Suisse	164	45,296.0
32	Rabobank	165	45,214.7
33	Banco do Brasil	174	43,984.2
34	KFW Bankengruppe	192	39,370.2
35	Royal Bank of Canada	211	36,615.5
36	GMAC	224	35,445.0
37	Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group	225	35,365.2
38	Mizuho Financial Group	228	34,982.8
39	Commerzbank	233	34,775.7
40	Danske Bank Group	236	34,291.3
41	DZ Bank	245	33,484.7
42	Australia & New Zealand Banking	247	33,396.0
43	KBC Group	251	32,606.5
44	Lloyds Banking Group	256	32,195.9
45	American Express	260	31,877.0
46	Commonwealth Bank of Australia	267	31,654.3
47	National Australia Bank	272	31,212.9
48	Westpac Banking	283	30,108.2
49	Nordea Bank	288	30,018.7
50	Sberbank	310	28,309.4
51	Bayerische Landesbank	315	28,111.5
52	Bank of Nova Scotia	343	25,944.5
53	Toronto-Dominion Bank	354	25,070.2
54	State Bank of India	363	24,577.7
55	Standard Chartered Group	389	23,438.0
56	Cr�dit Industriel & Commercial	431	21,582.0
57	Erste Group Bank	446	20,811.2
58	Norddeutsche Landesbank	476	19,409.9
59	Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken	477	19,405.6
60	Bank of Montreal	479	19,365.3
61	U.S. Bancorp	483	19,229.0
62	Bank of Communications	494	18,677.0

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From the July 20, 2009 issue

Figures prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standards.

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