Investors worldwide are deeply concerned about the stability of their banks.
It turns out, however, Canadians have little to worry about; seven of our banks were listed on Global Finance’s 21st annual ranking of the world’s 50 safest banks. Only the United States and Germany (with five) and Australia (with four) came close.
Read: Canadian banks will profit in Q2 and Banks stocks still viable
Our top performer was TD Bank Group (11th), followed by Scotiabank (12th), Desjardins (16th)—up two spots over last year—RBC (17th), BMO (25th), CIBC (26th), and National Bank (38th).
Read: Canadian banks need competition
The biggest impact on bank ratings remains Europe’s sovereign debt crisis and slowing growth. Worldwide, companies are watching closely to see how events are affecting their counterparties.
The top ten banks (mostly from Germany and the Netherlands) are unchanged as of an April 2012 update. All winners were selected through an evaluation of long-term credit ratings—from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch—and total assets.
Read: Fitch downgrades 18 banks
The full results of the exclusive survey will be published in the October issue of Global Finance.