Which are the largest banks in the world? That depends on what their accounting regimes are.
SNL Financial on Thursday released its first ranking of the 100 biggest banks in the world. No U.S. bank appeared among the five largest.
SNL explained that it had ranked the banks based on the assets they report under their respective accounting regimes. The top four banks, and eight of the top 10, report under International Financial Reporting Standards, accounting standards developed by the International Accounting Standards Board.
U.S. institutions, on the other hand, report under GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles), commonly followed accounting rules and standards for financial reporting.
SNL said that some U.S. banks would rank much higher if their assets were adjusted for the netting of derivatives, which is allowed under GAAP but is not permitted under IFRS.
Japanese banks also report under GAAP principles, though these differ in various ways from the U.S. rules and standards.
For its ranking, SNL used the most recently reported consolidated assets of companies it classified as "banks" or "savings banks/thrifts/mutual" that are regulated in the U.S. as bank holding companies, or any financial holding company with significant banking subsidiaries.
SNL said it had not included some institutions in the ranking because of the nature of their business model.
