Global Finance Online Identifies Best Global Banks

Global Finance is a monthly magazine founded in 1987 to help “corporate leaders, bankers, and investors chart the course of global business and finance.”  The magazine has a circulation of over 50,050 people and has readers in over 163 countries.  Each year the magazine selects the best financial institutions around the world.  Today we will identify some of the magazine’s best picks for global banks in 2009.

Biggest Emerging Market Banks

Many feel that emerging markets are the key to drive the global economy out of recession.  Global Finance has identified the top banks in this area that are “stronger and more resilient than ever.”  This is a partial list.  A full list of top emerging market banks will be released this month.

Rank Bank Name

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (China)

1                                     China Construction Bank (China)

2                                     Agricultural Bank of China (China)

3                                     Bank of China (China)

4                                     Bank of Communications (China)

5                                     Banco Itau (Brazil)

6                                     China Merchants Bank (China)

7                                     Sberbank (Russia)

8                                      Banco do Brasil (Brazil)

9                                      Kookmin Bank (South Korea)

World’s Best Banks

Global Finance announced the top global banks on October 6, 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey.  They ranked banks from 123 countries in 11 banking categories.

“Objective criteria included growth in assets, profitability, geographic reach, strategic relationships, new business development and product innovation. Subjective criteria included the opinions of equity and credit-rating analysts, banking consultants and others in the industry, as well as corporate financial executives. The winners are not always the biggest banks but, rather, the best banks – those with the qualities that corporations should look for when choosing a bank.”

Bank Type

JPMorgan Chase                                              Corporate

HSBC                                                                     Consumer

Credit Suisse                                                      Private

Standard Chartered                                        Emerging Markets

State Street Global Advisors                       Asset Management

The Bank of New York Mellon                    Custody

Citi                                                                          Cash Management

BNP Paribas                                                        Trade Finance

Deutsche Bank                                                  Foreign Exchange

HSBC                                                                     Sub-Custody

World’s Safest Banks

The past two years saw some of the world’s most respected banks fall.  Global Finance identified banks that kept a solid hold on risk before the global recession began and continue to maintain stability.  It should prove valuable for investors to note these banks as they have maintained their creditworthiness over the years.

“The ‘World’s 50 Safest Banks”’2009 were selected through a comparison of the long-term credit ratings and total assets of the 500 largest banks around the world. Ratings from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch were used. Global Finance has published its ‘World’s Safest Banks’ listing for 18 years and this ranking has become a recognized and trusted standard of creditworthiness for the entire financial world.”

We are listing the top ten safest banks.  Visit Global Finance to view the entire list of 50 banks.

Ranking Bank

1                                      KfW (Germany)

2                                      Caisse de Depots et Consignations (France)

3                                      Bank Nederlands Gemeenteen (Netherlands)

4                                      Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank (Germany)

5                                      Zuercher Kantonalbank (Switzerland)

6                                      Rabobank Group (Netherlands)

7                                      Landersreditbank Baden-Wuerttemberg- Foerderbank (Ger.)

8                                       NRW.Bank (Germany)

9                                       BNP Paribas (France)

10                                    Royal Bank of Canada (Canada)

For more information about Global Finance and their lists of top global banks (including archived winners) please visit their web site.

What bank is the best in your opinion?  Talk about it on BankersAvenue and listen to your colleagues about their idea of what makes a  trusted bank.

US Jobs Data Encouraging

(Friday, December 4, 2009) According to the Financial Times, the US jobless rate fell back to 10 percent in November.  Many feel the slowing of job loss indicates an upturn in the economy while others feel that a single month’s data is not an indicator of a long term trend.  According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers cut 11,000 jobs last month- the fewest since the recession began two years ago.   This stunned many analysts like the Wall Street Journal who projected job losses as high as 120,000.

US President Barack Obama said to reporters in Allentown, Pennsylvania that “the trend line is good [but] we’ve still got a long way to go.”  The dollar index rose 1.6 percent on Friday as traders look for US interest rates to increase.  Commodities, bonds, and gold were under pressure to sell.  At one point in the day the S&P 500 was the highest in 2009 but eased as the day ended.

Analysts look for December jobless numbers to clearly indicate a trend for 2010.  To make a positive impact on unemployment in the US it is suggested that 250,000 jobs a month must be created.

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Global outcry over Dubai World restructuring is exaggerated

Dubai : Well, well, well… What we are seeing unfolding in front of us, is absolutely the opposite of what we saw some years ago.

A small fever to the United States of America could potentially pull out the thermometers in different countries of the globe. For now though, it seems as if Dubai is the hot favorite to trigger such reactions. They sneeze and everyone else catches cold – It is fair in saying this only because of the reactions across the globe because of the decision of Dubai Government to hold off on their debt repayments until May 2010. Coming from a country that not too long ago, was the blue-eyed investment boy for investors, the world was probably not anticipating this.

What’s making news is the fact that Dubai has proposed to put off debt repayments, but what not a lot of people have seen the fact that the Government wishes to do something to make sure they can succeed commercially.

Banks seem to be doing their bit to put some soothing on the issue with them subscribing to bonds worth $5 Million.

Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Airline and Group issued a statement clarifying that all decisions are being taken to ensure that the financial and the commercial well-being of Dubai World, the principal company of the Dubai Government.

Issuing an appeal to all its creditors who had lent their monies to the Dubai World, the Shaikh asked the creditors to hold on to all their repayments until May, 2010.

In the statement, Dubai World clarified that they have their businesses in good world and have a well-diversified portfolio that can take care of the restructuring needs.

Leading investment company, Moody’s believed that this time would give enough time to Dubai World to arrange things on their end. Moody’s also believes that after this time, Dubai World would be repaying the debts diligently.

Leading analysts believe that the world is heading East and though the markets in emerging economies are volatile for now, these markets on a high risk-reward principle.

The Government of Dubai has stepped on to the situation and of course, has quite a bit of stake in Dubai World. The Government feels that it is in a nice position to restructure the debts of Dubai World.

Shaikh Ahmad believes that the situation is dire and it is only the government’s intervention that can help Dubai World to come out of the current mess.

Impact

Experts believe that a negative trigger to Dubai can cause a tremendous dominoes effect to the economies of all other countries in the Gulf Region.

With all the negatives being given, one thing all the experts believe in is – Dubai will have to endure quite a bit of pain and that for some years at least. But, experts also believe in the fact that rewards would come through with time.

The effects of economic slowdown have been felt all over the world over the last some years, but Dubai for some reason has been relatively immune to all these shocks. In such a scenario, experts believe that any shock of the latest announcements will only be short-lived.

On its part, Dubai Government has launched the Dubai Mall and the Dubai Metro, two landmarks that adds to the lifestyle quotient of Dubai residents. The fact that these have come at potentially challenging times for the country’s economy is a bit of a surprise.

Shaikh Ahmad believes that the infrastructure and other fundamentals to the economy would actually still drive in investments to the country and sooner than later, all lapsing assets will ensure they have a good list of good buyers.

No ways, Dubai can bow down with this latest shock! It’s economy probably is too resilient to face a horrid time of this impact.

The Senior Vice President of Corporate Finance Group of Moody’s believes that the support of the Government probably is only for the stronger companies, whereas the less stronger companies could face a tough task on hand.

Difficult times

All the experts believe that the debt burden is huge, but the local banks are contributing their level best to alleviate the issue. Bonds worth $20 Billion have already been subscribed to, and with the banks pumping in an additional $5 Billion, things are only looking a bit positive for Dubai.

Some experts are of the thought that the banks would be able to absorb the debts of the country, if they are limited to Dubai World and Nakheel, with the latter being a construction giant in Dubai.

It is just fair in saying that the fortunes of a country could go on to hit those of another. We have just seen how fluctuations in Dubai could hit the fortunes of other countries in a big way.

Read more about this on the BankersAvenue Blog

Dubai World News Shakes Global Markets

News agencies around the globe reported that Dubai World, the Middle East’s nation’s flagship government-owned holding company, reported restructuring plans this week.  This holding company has a diverse portfolio including investments in transportation logistics, dry-docks and maritime management, urban development, and other global investment and financial services.   Included in their portfolio is a three-island Dubai development that includes shopping, hotels, and an indoor ski slope.

Dubai World released plans this week to restructure as well as ask creditors for a six-month standstill on repaying about $60 billion (US) of debt.

According to the Financial Times the effect of this news on global markets was swift. European markets were able to bounce back with a mini-rally after heavy sell-offs early on Friday.  US markets were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday Thursday.  A mini-session on Friday left the S&P 500 index at 1,094.33, down 1.72 per cent after heavy selling early in the day.  The Nikkei Index suffered a 3.2 percent fall on Friday, its biggest one day decline in almost eight months.

Investors remain jittery as the ripple effects of the Dubai World news continue to ripple in global markets.  Some feel that there will be more dramatic selling as more news is released by the Middle Eastern holding company in the weeks to come.  Another interesting aspect of this story is how Dubai’s neighboring emirate, Abu Dhabi, will react to Dubai World’s challenging situation.  Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the UAE’s two largest and often competing emirates.  It remains to be seen how the complex dynamics of these emirate “brothers” pan out in the weeks to come.  Click here for more information on the Dubai/Abu Dhabi relationship.

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