Now that third-quarter earnings season is complete for most major banks, we can update our list of the nation's 10 biggest banks by assets. While there were no changes in rank this quarter, with JPMorgan Chase (JPM 0.65%), Bank of America (BAC 1.53%), Citigroup (C 0.26%), and Wells Fargo (WFC 2.73%) retaining their substantial leads over their regional banking counterparts, there are still two points worth noting.
The first concerns the relative positions of Wells Fargo and Citigroup. Going into the financial crisis, Citigroup was the biggest bank in the country, outpacing even JPMorgan Chase, while Wells Fargo was little more than a regional bank operating largely west of the Mississippi River. Fast forward to today, however, and the tides have turned. Not only is Citigroup now the third biggest bank in the country, but it will soon be passed by Wells Fargo in terms of size, as I discuss here.
The second point to note is that M&T Bank (MTB 0.19%), which isn't currently one of the biggest banks in America, could soon become one. As my colleague Eric Volkman discusses here, M&T Bank has finally been given clearance from the Federal Reserve to complete its acquisition of Hudson City Bancorp, a $35 billion lender based in New Jersey. This will boost M&T's total size to approximately $130 billion, or just under Fifth Third Bancorp's $142 billion. Thus, all it will take for the Buffalo, New York-based M&T Bank to surpass Ohio's Fifth Third Bancorp, is a relatively small acquisition, or modestly faster loan growth over a handful of quarters.
To see the full ranking of the 10 biggest U.S. banks by assets, headlined as usual by JPMorgan Chase, simply scroll through the brief slideshow below.
Chart data from the earnings releases of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, US Bancorp, PNC Financial, Capital One, BB&T, SunTrust Banks, and Fifth Third Bancorp.
