Spain's Banco Santander SA dropped two spots in a ranking of market capitalization of big European banks, compared to a year ago, data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence shows.

It posted a decline of 3.9% in the market value of its outstanding shares in the year to Dec. 31, 2019, ending with a valuation of €61.96 billion.

It was overtaken by PAO Sberbank of Russia and France's BNP Paribas SA, which moved into second and third place, respectively. London-based HSBC Holdings PLC retained its spot as the European bank with the highest market cap — €141.52 billion — but it also registered the biggest decline from both year-end 2018 and the end of September 2019.

France's Société Générale SA posted the highest rise over the fourth quarter, of 23.4%. It was in 17th place among the banks in the sample, with a market cap of €26.35 billion.

Italy-based UniCredit SpA saw a rise of 20.3% in market cap over the period between Sept. 30, 2019, and Dec. 31, 2019, while British bank Barclays PLC recorded an increase of 19.8% during the quarter.