Ranking of the Most Powerful Banks in Europe for 2024

Top Banks in Europe by Market Capitalization

What are the most powerful banks in Europe, specifically those boasting the highest market capitalization? To understand this, we must first clarify what market capitalization, or market cap, actually means.
Generally speaking, market cap is the total value of all outstanding shares of a company’s stock, calculated in euros for European banks.

To quantify market capitalization, one must multiply the total number of outstanding shares by the price of each individual share.
This implies that as the share price increases, the market capitalization tends to rise, assuming the number of shares remains constant.

As of October 4, 2024, Spain’s Banco Santander holds the title of the largest bank in Europe by market cap, closely followed by France’s BNP Paribas and Italy’s Intesa SanPaolo.

Market Capitalization Rankings

Here’s a summary of the top banks in Europe based on their market cap:

• 1.
  Banco Santander: €69.65 billion
• 2.
  BNP Paribas: €69.23 billion
• 3.
  Intesa SanPaolo SpA: €68.87 billion
• 4.
  UniCredit: €63.99 billion
• 5.
  Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria: €55.37 billion
• 6.
  Crédit Agricole: €41.59 billion
• 7.
  CaixaBank: €38.43 billion
• 8.
  Nordea: €36.67 billion
• 9.
  Deutsche Bank: €31.55 billion
• 10.
  KBC Bank: €28.96 billion
• 11.
  Commerzbank: €19.57 billion
• 12.
  Société Générale: €18.11 billion
• 13.
  ABN Amro Bank: €13.08 billion
• 14.
  Banco Sabadell: €10.06 billion
• 15.
  Banca Mediolanum: €8.25 billion

Recent Developments

Noteworthy for Italy is the date of October 1, 2024, when Intesa SanPaolo briefly surpassed Santander in market cap and also claimed the number two spot from BNP Paribas, reaching a market value of €69.9 billion.
However, this lead proved to be short-lived.

It’s interesting to highlight the dominance of Spanish banks, which (Banco Santander, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, CaixaBank, Banco Sabadell) represent approximately 26% of the rankings.
In comparison, the three French banks (BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Société Générale) and Italian banks (Intesa SanPaolo, UniCredit, Banca Mediolanum) account for 20%.
Germany’s presence is modest, with just Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, contributing about 13% to the list.

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