I just wanted to take a few minutes to talk about the top 10 banks in the USA by assets according to the Federal Reserve.
America is spoilt in terms of its financial sector. Its financial sector is by far the biggest in the world.
As an individual, you have a wide choice of banks and credit unions that you can use.
You can pick these big so-called too big to fail banks or even the smaller regional banks.
Personally I would rather keep my money with the regional banks than the big banks.
Some of these regional banks offer far better terms than the behemoths of the financial sector. So if you want to open a checking account consider the small banks first.
One of the things that you will notice from the Federal Reserve report is that the top four banks now hold 50% of all American banking assets.
Whether these big banks are too big for the economy is up to the regulators who are required by the Dodd-Frank Act to monitor such things.
Table of Contents
The Top 10 Banks in the USA by Assets
Below are the top ten US Banks by Assets
1. JPMorgan Chase
The biggest bank by assets is JPMorgan Chase with assets of $2.74 trillion.
It is, however, the sixth-largest bank in the world.
JPMorgan Chase came about due to the merger of two old banks, J.P. Morgan and Company and Chase Manhattan Corporation in the year 2000.
The JP Morgan part of the business is more into investment banking and wealth management. While the Chase bit is more into retail and commercial banking services.
At the moment the bank has been focussing its attention on attracting the Millenials.
They are doing this by introducing digital products and artificial intelligence.
It hopes to serve its customers in the future through voice assistants making it possible for people to access analysis reports and stock information.
It has revenues of $96 billion in 2018.
2. Bank of America
Bank of America is the second-biggest bank in America by assets. It has assets of $1.96 trillion as of 2018.
The headquarters of Bank of America is in Charlotte, North Carolina.
It has about 50 million retail customers and is also the largest wealth management firm through its acquisition of Merril Lynch.
Bank of America has of late also been spending a lot of money on digital products.
It has digitized branches that offer contactless ATMs and use video-conference technology to connect with its customers.
Its apps such as Zelle and Erica has helped in increasing its appeal to young people.
3. Citigroup
Citigroup is the third biggest bank in America with assets of over $1.96 trillion.
Citigroup is best as the pioneer of credit cards and automated cash machines.
Most of its branches are now outside of America though more than 50% of its revenue is derived from its American operations.
In America, it is the favored bank of the high-income families who voted it as the best bank for high net worth families.
It too is massively involved in digital banking where there has been a big increase in the use of its mobile and digital banking services.
4. Wells Fargo & Co
On fourth position is Wells Fargo which has assets worth $1.89 trillion.
It has its headquarters in San Francisco, California. It is the oldest continuously operating bank in the United States.
Wells Fargo has also done a good job when it comes to digital services as well where America has often lagged behind.
It now has apps like “Greenhouse” which has helped customers to simplify their bills and track spending.
5. Goldman Sachs
The fifth-biggest bank in America is Goldman Sachs with assets of over $925 billion.
Goldman continues to expand and this year has teamed up with Apple to introduce the Apple card for iPhone users. iPhone users can use either a digital or a physical card.
6. Morgan Stanley
In the sixth position is Morgan Stanley with assets of over $875 billion.
Its growth has been helped by its acquisition of Solium Capital, a provider of software for stock administration, financial reporting, and compliance.
This has helped it to venture into the digital banking sector.
7. U.S. Bancorp
U.S. Bancorp is the seventh biggest bank with assets of over $475 billion.
This bank came about as a result of a combination of regional banks in the West and Midwest.
It has over 16 million customers.
According to the bank, they are now working hard to improve its banking technology as it competes with the tech giants.
The road ahead will be hard for traditional banks with the entry of tech giant, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Google.
8. PNC Financial Services
PNC Financial Services sits on 8th position with assets of over $392 billion.
As a bank, they have taken advantage of modern technology to expand their offerings to their customers.
Its headquarters is in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
PNC Financial Services came about as the result of the merger between Pittsburgh National Corporation and Providence National Corporation.
It mainly operates on the East Coast.
9. TD Bank
In the 9th position, we have TD Bank with assets of over $384 billion.
An interesting fact about TD Bank is that its headquarters is actually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and not the USA. It has over 22 million customers.
As a bank TD also continues to take advantage of modern technology to grow its customer base.
It has been in the news lately because of its integration of artificial intelligence and other digital technology.
TD’s AI-powered chatbox is able to answer customer questions via text message besides other uses.
10. Capital One
Last but not least in this top ten list is Capital One which has assets valued at $373 billion.
Capital One has a special place in my heart because I hold a Capital One credit card.
I, therefore, sympathized with them when there was that data breach of customer records early this year.
The data breach took place in the midst of their increased use of technology in their operations.
Actually it has increased its technology staff from 2500 in 2011 to 9000 in 2019.
It has also been in the market looking for fintech firms and acquired United Income in 2019.
Conclusion
I hope you have liked this top ten banks in the USA by assets. I hope to share more in the near future as we seek to learn more about the US banking industry.
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