The three largest banking sectors in Europe - France, Germany, and Spain - represented more than **** of Europe's total banking assets in 2024. According to European Banking Authority (EBA) data, France dominated with the largest banking sector, boasting assets exceeding ************* euros. In contrast, Cyprus, Iceland, and Malta maintained the smallest banking sectors by asset value.

In 2023, the total assets of banking corporations in the United Kingdom were the highest of the observed European countries, with almost 16.38 trillion U.S. dollars. France and Germany finished the top three countries in Europe for total banking sector assets in 2023, with approximately 12.99 trillion U.S. dollars and 11.69 trillion U.S. dollars, respectively.

As of June 2025, there were a total of 4,752 credit institutions operating in the European Union. Across Europe, approximately 1.8 million individuals were employed by credit institutions, with some bank employees looking after more than 200 customers each. The German banking sector In 2025, Germany had more than twice as many banks operating than any other European country, despite a steady downward trend for years. Germany has 3 main types of banks, which include commercial, savings (or Sparkassen) and cooperative banks. Despite the declining number of banks, the German bank sector's assets increased steadily during the last decade, amounting to over 10 trillion euros in 2024. What is the leading bank in Europe? In 2024, HSBC was the largest bank in Europe, in terms of market capitalization. The British headquartered bank also led the European banking sector in terms of assets and tier 1 capital. The UK giant also ranked first in terms of revenue. When it comes to digital banking, Revolut stands out as the leading player, with its customer base rising sharply in recent years, reaching over 52 million at the end of 2024.

Graph and download economic data for Central Bank Assets for Euro Area (11-19 Countries) (ECBASSETSW) from 1999-01-01 to 2025-06-27 about central bank, Euro Area, Europe, assets, banks, and depository institutions.

The bank concentration of a country looks at how consolidated a banking sector is. The measure looks at the value of assets held by the three largest banks in each country as a share of the total value of assets of commercial banks. Across Europe, bank concentration varied from just over 40 percent in Poland to just over 94 percent in Finland. Four countries in Europe in 2017 had bank concentration rates of over 90 percent.

Capital ratios express a bank's capital as a percentage of its risk-weighted assets (RWAs). Following the Basel III accord, European banks faced higher capital requirements phased in from January 1, 2015, establishing a new minimum Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio of 4.5 percent. As of the last quarter of 2024, all European banking systems exceeded the required CET1 ratio. Cyprus, Latvia, and Bulgaria maintained the highest CET1 ratios, while the Netherlands and Greece recorded the lowest. European Banking Authority stress test Since 2014, the European Banking Authority has conducted stress tests to assess whether Europe's largest banks could withstand another financial crisis. These tests measure each bank's capital ratio under a 3-year adverse scenario. In the 2025 stress test, all institutions except La Banque Postale were determined to have sufficient capital to weather a potential financial crisis. Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE emerged as the top performer in this latest assessment. Liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) As of January 1st, 2015, it became a requirement for banks to hold a minimum of 60 percent in high quality liquid assets (HQLA), which allowed them to survive in times of liquidity stress lasting up to 30 days. This minimum requirement was to increase annually by 10 percent until it reaches 100 percent as of 2019. As of December 2024, all European countries were able to meet this minimum requirement.

Total assets of Russian banking corporations increased overall during the observed period, from approximately 74 trillion Russian rubles as of January 1, 2017, to over 134.5 trillion Russian rubles as of January 1, 2023. Sberbank was the largest bank in Russia. Consolidation In 2013, the central bank of Russia began a national ‘clean-up’ of its financial institutions in a bid to rid the country of fraud and other financial crimes within the industry. Between January 2013 and January 2021, around 550 banks were closed by the state countrywide. More can be learned about the Russian banking sector and European banks through the overview report on the sector. Bank accounts in Russia The total number of bank accounts opened in Russia more than doubled between 2008 and 2023. As of January 2023, the number of bank accounts amounted to over one billion. There were more than seven bank accounts per capita in the country.

As of December 2024, Hungarian banks led all European countries with the highest return on assets (ROA), followed by Latvia and Bulgaria. In contrast, France and Germany reported the lowest banking sector ROA, both at just *** percent.

The return on equity (ROE) of European banking sectors showed significant disparities in the last quarter of 2024, with Romania leading at **** percent and Liechtenstein trailing at *** percent. This wide range reflects the diverse financial landscapes across the continent, influenced by factors such as market conditions, regulatory environments, and economic stability. While ROE is a crucial indicator of banking efficiency, it's important to consider it alongside other metrics for a comprehensive view of the industry's health. Digital transformation reshaping European banking The banking sector in Europe is undergoing a digital revolution, with online banking penetration reaching impressive levels. In 2024, Denmark lead with a ***** percent penetration rate, closely followed by Norway at **** percent. This shift towards digital banking is not only changing how traditional banks operate but also paving the way for the rise of digital-only banks. Neobanks like Revolut have seen rapid growth, with the UK-based fintech reaching ** million users by November 2024, highlighting the increasing consumer preference for digital financial services. Consolidation and asset growth in European banking Despite the high number of banks operating in Europe, with ***** institutions in the EU as of December 2024, the industry is dominated by a few large players. In 2023, HSBC Holdings lead European banks with total assets exceeding *** trillion U.S. dollars in 2023, followed closely by BNP Paribas SA with over *** trillion U.S. dollars. This concentration of assets among top banks, coupled with the ongoing digital transformation, suggests a trend towards consolidation in the European banking sector, potentially impacting future ROE figures across the continent.

In June 2024, over 74 percent of the assets owned by Icelandic, Czech, Dutch, Icelandic, and Slovak banks were loans and advances. Meanwhile, Cyprus was the country where its banks had the smallest loan portfolios, in relative terms, as it just constituted roughly 41 percent of their assets. Meanwhile, Greece was the European country with the highest ratio of non-performing loans.

After the Basel III committee meeting, all banks in Europe were required to meet a minimum requirement for total capital ratio of ***** percent. The total capital ratio is the total capital held by a bank divided by its risk-weighted assets. As of December 2024, all countries in Europe met the minimum requirements of ***** percent. The highest total capital ratio among European countries was recorded in Cyprus, at **** percent.

The European banking sector showed significant disparities in net interest margins (NIM) during the last quarter 2024. Poland and Hungary topped the rankings with NIMs of *** percent and *** percent, respectively. In contrast, several Western European nations reported markedly lower figures: Germany and Denmark at *** percent, France at *** percent. NIM, a key indicator of bank profitability, measures the difference between interest income earned from lending activities and interest paid to depositors, expressed as a percentage of interest-earning assets. Profitability and stability Low profitability has been highlighted several times by the ECB as a key risk to the financial stability of the Euro area. There are several ways to examine profitability in the banking sector, such as the cost-to-income ratio. Prolonged low profitability can have a knock-on effect on an economy’s growth. On the other hand, sustained periods of higher than average profitability can also mean trouble, as was seen in the period running up to the financial crisis. Other key measures There are several other metrics that can also be used. Return on equity (ROE), which divides net income by shareholders' equity, looks at how well a company’s management is using its assets to create profits. Another key measure of a bank's profitability is to look at the return on assets (ROA), which divides a bank’s net income by its total assets during a given period.

In Europe, the variation in average amounts of financial wealth per adult varied considerably as of 2022, from approximately 449,000 U.S. dollars in Switzerland to roughly 1,200 U.S. dollars in Azerbaijan. In Europe, the overall average financial wealth per adult as of 2022 was 84,308 U.S. dollars. In terms of private wealth, Europe held the second highest value in the world, after North America.

What is financial wealth?

Financial wealth, also known as financial assets or liquid assets can include wealth that an individual has in the forms of cash, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and bank deposits. In addition to financial wealth, wealth can also be measured in other assets, called non-financial wealth. This includes physical assets, such as real estate, land, vehicles, jewelry, and art, just to name a few.

Where do most wealthy individuals live?

Individuals with a net worth over one million U.S. dollars are called high-net worth individuals (HNWI). The United States was the home country to the highest number of HNWIs in 2021. China followed, although their number of HNWIs did not even reach one third of the number in the United States. In Europe, Switzerland is the country with the highest average financial wealth per adult, but with its small population size, the number of HNWIs does not come near the numbers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy – the European countries with the highest number of HNWIs. Considering Switzerland’s small population size, however, it is the country in the world with the highest proportion of millionaires.

Since January 1, 2015, banks have been required to maintain at least 60 percent of their portfolios in high-quality liquid assets (HQLA), ensuring sufficient liquidity during stress periods lasting up to 30 days. This requirement increased by 10 percent annually until reaching 100 percent in 2019. In the last quarter of 2024, all European countries had successfully met this threshold. Malta led with the highest liquidity coverage ratio at ***** percent, followed by Lithuania at ***** percent and Cyprus at ***** percent.

This statistic illustrates European countries with the most leading banks headquartered within the country in 2017. The statistic bases its figures on ranking the 50 largest banks by their total assets at the end of 2017. As can be seen Germany (seven), the United Kingdom (UK) (six) and France (six) lead the way as hubs for large banks. Spain and Italy also boasted five leading banks, each headquartered in their countries.

According to the data source, a banks Z score is defined as "the probability of default of a country's banking system, calculated as a weighted average of the z-scores of a country's individual banks (the weights are based on the individual banks' total assets). Z-score compares a bank's buffers (capitalization and returns) with the volatility of those returns. In 2017, the banking system in Luxembourg had the highest probability of default with a Z score of 44.7 percent.

Deutsche Bank had the largest amount of total assets among German banks as of 2021. Other leading institutions included the DZ Bank and KfW. All of them are headquartered in Frankfurt. Deutsche Bank is the largest bank in the country, totaling over 1.32 trillion euros in assets.

Bank assets

Germany is Europe’s largest economy, housing several banks of international importance which look back on a long history. By definition, assets are owned and have value. Banks hold assets in a variety of forms. The first one that undoubtedly comes to mind is cash; others include share certificates, consumer loans, equipment, property or land. These are further classified based on whether they bring value within a specified time period or not. While Deutsche Bank was ahead in Germany, it is worth noting that asset sums decreased in recent years.

Leadership challenges

Deutsche Bank is among the largest banks in the world as of 2021, based on assets, ranking 22nd in a list published by S&P Global. It also ranks among the ten leading banks in Europe, also referring to total assets. Future asset development, as for many banks around the world, is facing new pressure due to the continued effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and climbing inflation levels.

In 2020, 14 of all 128 banks located in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg came from China. The presence of Chinese banks in the Grand Duchy was higher than those of many other countries, but still less than that of German banks: 22 banks came from there. The Asian financial institutions, such as China Everbright, established themselves in Luxembourg to gain access to the EU internal market. European banks in the meantime go to Luxembourg as they focus on specific business areas like private banking and investment funds. Despite this, the Grand Duchy saw a decrease in the total number of authorized banks in recent years.

Banking is but one of many activities for Luxembourg’s financial sector

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg focuses on three financial areas: banking, investment funds and insurance. Investment funds, for example, were worth almost 8,200 percent of the country’s GDP in 2019, with the Grand Duchy’s fund industry holding almost 4.7 trillion euros worth of net assets under management (AUM) in February 2020. When it comes to the number of insurance companies, Luxembourg had more than both Belgium and the Netherlands combined.

Chinese finance is but one example

Luxembourg’s financial sector tries to diversify its activities and sometimes to target specific audiences. For example, Luxembourg was the first European country to issue a sovereign sukuk (a financial certificate that complies with Islamic religious law) on its own thanks to the country's legal structures.

In 2024, the asset size of Rabobank reached a total of approximately 629.3 billion euros. The value of assets held by the Netherlands-based bank decreased compared to earlier years. However, the financial institution's profitability followed the opposite trend, as Rabobank’s return on equity (ROE) reached a value of 10 percent in 2024. Banking in the Netherlands among the most concentrated in Europe In comparison to the banking sectors in other EU countries, the Dutch banking sector is relatively large and averages more than 4 times the size of Dutch GDP. An important characteristic of the banking sector in the Netherlands, however, is that a few institutions dominate the market. Assets from ING, Rabobank and ABN AMRO were much higher than other bank brands in the country. Rabobank is one of the biggest mortgage providers in the Netherlands ABN AMRO, Rabobank and ING ranked among the leading mortgage providers in the Netherlands: in 2023, together making up over 45 percent of the total mortgage revenue in the country. The Netherlands is one of the countries with the highest mortgage debt among private individuals. This has a political background as the Dutch tax system allowed homeowners for many years to deduct interest paid on mortgage from the pre-tax income for a maximum period of 30 years (known in the Netherlands as hypotheekrenteaftrek), essentially allowing for income support for homeowners. In the third quarter of 2024, the total mortgage debt in the Netherlands was around 839 million euros.

In 2023, Dutch banks ABN AMRO, ING Bank, and Rabobank, all saw their return on assets (ROA) increase compared to the previous year. These three banks are the largest banks in the country in terms of assets. The ROA is calculated by dividing a company's net profit by total assets, and it shows the average per-euro profit banks earned on their assets. Financial analysts frequently apply this is a key financial indicator, as banks rely on loans and money flow as their business model. As such, it is said that even a profit of one percent could be a significant number for a bank.