Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A)(NYSE:BRK.B) is the top company in the financial sector, far ahead of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and Visa (NYSE:V). Big banks in the U.S. and China make up most of the largest financial companies by market cap.
Largest financial companies
Largest companies by market cap in the financial sector
(Editor's note: Rankings are as of Sept. 4, 2025.)
| Name and ticker | Market cap | Current price | Industry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) | $1.1 trillion | $745,906.20 | Diversified Financial Services |
| JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) | $867 billion | $310.83 | Banks |
| Visa (NYSE:V) | $658 billion | $348.21 | Diversified Financial Services |
| Mastercard (NYSE:MA) | $514 billion | $574.44 | Diversified Financial Services |
| Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) | $382 billion | $50.66 | Banks |
| Industrial And Commercial Bank Of China (OTC:IDCBF) | $249 billion | $0.74 | Banks |
| Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) | $269 billion | $80.95 | Banks |
| Agricultural Bank Of China (OTC:ACGBF) | $221 billion | $0.63 | Banks |
| Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) | $254 billion | $157.01 | Capital Markets |
| China Construction Bank (OTC:CICHY) | $230 billion | $19.24 | Banks |
Companies 1 - 3
1. Berkshire Hathaway
- Market cap: $1.02 trillion (as of Sept. 4)
- Revenue (TTM): $397.1 billion
- Five-year annualized return: 18.33%
- Year founded: 1839
Originally in the textiles business, Berkshire Hathaway is now a holding company with subsidiaries across a number of industries, including insurance, freight rail transportation, and utilities.
Warren Buffett became CEO and chairman of Berkshire after taking majority control of the company in 1965. The legendary investor has announced that he'll be retiring at the end of the year. Greg Abel, the company's vice chairman, is expected to take over.
Berkshire Hathaway is highly regarded for its financial performance and investment choices. Under the leadership of Buffett (and business partner Charlie Munger, until his death in 2023), Berkshire has grown significantly. It was the first (and so far, the only) U.S. financial company to reach a $1 trillion market cap.
2. JPMorgan Chase
- Market cap: $823.58 billion (as of Sept. 4)
- Revenue (TTM): $175.1 billion
- Five-year annualized return: 27.04%
- Year founded: 1799 (Bank of the Manhattan Company), 2000 (merger of JPMorgan and Chase)
JPMorgan Chase is the biggest bank in the U.S. It had $4.3 trillion in assets under management (AUM) as of the second quarter of 2025.
As one of the "Big Four" U.S. banks, JPMorgan Chase offers a wide range of financial products and services. These include bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages, auto loans, and wealth management.
3. Visa
- Market cap: $675.99 billion (as of Sept. 4)
- Revenue (TTM): $38.9 billion
- Gross profit (TTM): $31.2 billion
- Five-year annualized return: 12.18%
- Year founded: 1958
Visa is a payment network that processes prepaid, debit, and credit card transactions. It's accepted in more than 200 countries and territories, making it one of the most widespread payment networks in the world. During the 2024 fiscal year, it processed 234 billion transactions.
This payments company is regularly on the cutting edge of technological innovations. It was the first major payments network to settle a cryptocurrency transaction, and it has invested heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) fraud detection.
Companies 4 - 6
4. Mastercard
- Market cap: $536.33 billion (as of Sept. 4)
- Revenue (TTM): $30.2 billion
- Gross profit (TTM): $23.1 billion
- Five-year annualized return: 12.74%
- Year founded: 1966
Mastercard is a payment network and Visa's closest competitor. It's accepted in more than 210 countries.
In February 2025, Mastercard announced it would remove the 16-digit card numbers from its credit and debit cards by 2030. It will replace them with tokenization, where each card has a unique, encrypted token instead of a number. The change is expected to make payment card fraud more difficult.
5. Bank of America
- Market cap: $370.79 billion (as of Sept. 4)
- Revenue (TTM): $104.5 billion
- Five-year annualized return: 16.45%
- Year founded: 1904 (Bank of Italy), 1998 (merger of NationsBank and Bank of America)
Bank of America is the second-largest bank in the U.S., offering banking services, loans, and credit cards. During the Great Recession, Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch for approximately $50 billion, expanding its investment banking and wealth management segments.
This big bank has prioritized expansion over the last decade. From 2014 to 2024, it invested more than $5 billion in financial center expansion to enter new markets across the country.
6. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
- Market cap: $267.30 billion (as of Sept. 4)
- Revenue (TTM): $115.3 billion*
- Five-year annualized return: 14.85%
- Year founded: 1984
*Converted from Chinese yuan.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, or ICBC, was the largest bank in the world by total assets, with about $7.3 trillion in AUM as of the second quarter of 2025. The Chinese government owns a majority stake in ICBC.
Chinese banks, ICBC included, have had a difficult 2025. To support the country's economy, they've needed to provide cheap lending and loan subsidies, cutting into their profitability.
Companies 7 - 10
7. Wells Fargo
- Market cap: $257.91 billion (as of Sept. 4)
- Revenue (TTM): $81.5 billion
- Five-year annualized return: 29.50%
- Year founded: 1852
Wells Fargo is the fourth-largest bank in the U.S. by total assets, after JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup (NYSE:C). It had approximately $1.9 trillion in AUM as of the second quarter of 2025. Products include bank accounts, credit cards, and home, auto, and personal loans. It also offers investing and wealth management services.
This bank has been involved in some high-profile issues. One of the most widely reported was an account fraud scandal discovered in late 2016, where employees opened fraudulent accounts for clients without their knowledge.
Due to the scandal, the Federal Reserve imposed an asset cap of $1.95 trillion in early 2018, and Wells Fargo agreed to pay $3 billion in fines in 2020. In June 2025, the Federal Reserve removed the asset cap on Wells Fargo after determining that the bank had met all of the required conditions.
8. Agricultural Bank of China
- Market cap: $252.62 billion (as of Sept. 4)
- Revenue (TTM): $99.9 billion*
- Five-year annualized return: 25.00%
- Year founded: 1905 (Da-Qing Bank), 1912 (Bank of China), 1979 (re-established)
*Converted from Chinese yuan.
The Agricultural Bank of China is the world's second-largest bank after ICBC. As of the second quarter of 2025, it had about $6.6 trillion in AUM. It's partially state-owned, with the Chinese government having about a 40% stake through an investment company.
9. Morgan Stanley
- Market cap: $237.10 billion (as of Sept. 4)
- Revenue (TTM): $61.5 billion
- Five-year annualized return: 27.37%
- Year founded: 1935
Morgan Stanley is an investment bank operating in over 40 countries with more than 80,000 employees. Its three business segments are institutional securities, wealth management, and investment management.
This bank was originally part of JPMorgan Chase until the passage of the Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited a single entity from having both commercial and investment banking businesses. JPMorgan Chase took the commercial banking business, while some employees left to form Morgan Stanley and provide investment banking services.
10. China Construction Bank
- Market cap: $234.29 billion (as of Sept. 4)
- Revenue (TTM): $106.2 billion*
- Five-year annualized return: 15.45%
- Year founded: 1954
*Converted from Chinese yuan.
China Construction Bank is the third-largest bank in China and the world in terms of AUM. Like the other biggest Chinese banks, it's partially owned by the state.
Bank of America previously owned a portion of China Construction Bank, purchasing a 9% stake in 2005 for $3 billion. It later began selling its stake, offloading the last of its shares in 2013.
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Takeaways
Financial sector takeaways for investors
Bank stocks may be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the financial sector. They make up six of the 10 largest financial companies, but the sector also includes other types of businesses, such as insurance companies and payment networks.
Economic downturns often hit financial stocks hard, and banks in particular. During periods of high unemployment, financial companies may get saddled with large amounts of bad debt that they need to write off.
The Trump administration's tariffs and the economic uncertainty they've caused could be a serious headwind for the banking sector. Chinese bank stocks may be hit especially hard. However, a federal court ruled that most of these tariffs are illegal. For now, the tariffs are still in place pending an appeal.
Despite the risk of a potential downturn, the top companies in this sector are massive businesses with long track records of success. For patient investors, financial stocks can be a valuable addition to a portfolio.
