China's Big 4

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's fellow government-backed lenders Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp. and Bank of China Ltd. occupied the second to fourth places in the ranking, respectively, unchanged from the 2025 list.

China's state-owned banks accelerated their financial investments by 19% in 2025, serving as the "primary liquidity conduit for fiscal stimulus," according to Iris Tan, senior equity analyst at Morningstar. The growth was fueled by a record 28% surge in government bond issuance

For the latest ranking, company assets were adjusted on a best-efforts basis for pending mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, as well as M&A deals that closed after the end of the period. To be eligible for inclusion in pro forma adjustments, the amount of assets being transferred had to be at least $2 billion, unless otherwise noted. Assets reported by non-US-dollar filers were converted to dollars using period-end exchange rates. Total assets were taken on an "as-reported" basis, and no adjustments were made to account for differing accounting standards. The majority of banks were ranked by total assets as of Dec. 31, 2025. In the previous ranking, published April 15, 2025, most company assets were as of Dec. 31, 2024, and were adjusted for pending and completed M&A as of April 8, 2025.

Lending to five strategic sectors — technology and innovation, green finance, inclusive finance, older people and financial technology infrastructure — contributed to loan growth ranging from 12% to 28% in these sectors, Tan said. This helped to offset "anemic credit demands from private sectors."

More than a fifth of the banks in the ranking, or 21, are based in mainland China, with most in the top half of the list.

M&A shapes movements

M&A transactions influenced the list, especially in Europe. There were 532 M&A transactions among banks worldwide in 2025, according to Market Intelligence data.

France-based BNP Paribas SA overtook UK-headquartered HSBC Holdings PLC to become the world's seventh-largest bank and Europe's largest. HSBC, which is now in eighth place, has been shedding assets and exiting markets as part of a wider group streamlining push. BNP Paribas, meanwhile, finalized its acquisition of Axa Investment Managers and HSBC's German private bank in 2025.

Spain-based Banco Santander SA rose in the ranking to 13th place, from 16th in 2025, partly owing to its acquisition of TSB Banking Group PLC in the UK for $3.97 billion and Webster Financial Corp. in the US for $12.18 billion.

France-based Groupe BPCE, which is acquiring Novo Banco SA in Portugal, advanced three places to 18th. ABN Amro Bank NV, which bought Dutch peer NIBC Bank NV, rose seven places to 77th. Austria-based Erste Group Bank AG moved up 17 places to 74th; the bank bought most of Santander's Polish operations for €7 billion.

Dollar weakness

M&A also roared back into life in the US, although its influence on the ranking was less clear. Capital One Financial Corp. dropped several places despite the completion of its $50.79 billion acquisition of Discover Financial Services, and a flurry of large, regional US deals did not affect the largest US banks.

None of the 12 US banks on the list rose in the ranking, and six of them fell. This was likely partly due to the recent weakness of the US dollar, which significantly fell in value relative to the euro, British pound, Swiss franc and other major currencies in 2025. Most large non-US banks report in native currencies, but the ranking used assets converted to dollars.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. slipped three places to 22nd, while U.S. Bancorp fell six notches to 59th. Charles Schwab Corp. fell to 81st place. The decline in the rankings of Goldman Sachs, Charles Schwab, Capital One, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and Truist Financial Corp. came despite their asset growth.

Citigroup Inc. remained in 12th place despite its assets being adjusted lower by as much as $35 billion to account for what it has classified as legacy franchises. This includes its consumer banking and small business middle-market banking operations in Mexico. Bank of Montreal fell to 38th place from 36th, partly reflecting the sale of branches to First Citizens BancShares Inc.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. retained its fifth position, and Bank of America Corp. remained in sixth.

After China, the US had the second-highest number of banks in the ranking with 12, followed by Japan with eight. The UK, France and Canada each had six. Australia was represented by four banks.

John Wu, Harry Terris and Yuvraj Singh contributed to this article.