Big Four (banking)

The Big Four (or Big 4) is the colloquial name given to the four main banks in several countries where the banking industry is dominated by just four institutions and where the phrase has thus gained relevance. Some countries include more or fewer institutions in such rankings, leading to other names such as Big Three, Big Five, or Big Six.
Internationally, the term "Big Four Banks" has traditionally referred to the following central banks:
In Australia, the "big four banks" refers to the four largest banks that have historically dominated Australia's banking industry in terms of market share, revenue, and total assets. The "big four banks" of Australia are:
A longstanding policy of the federal government in Australia has been to maintain this status quo, called the four pillars policy. The policy has been maintained through the Global Recession of 2008–09, as Westpac acquired St George Bank and the Commonwealth Bank acquired Bankwest, reinforcing the special status of the "big four".
The "Big Four" banks of Austria are:
*separate legal entities operating under a common brand
The big four banks of Belgium are a result of national and international mergers in the early 90s.
In Brazil, the "big four", according to Exame Magazine in 2017:
According to the National Bank of Cambodia, the top three largest banks in Cambodia dominates 39.1% (The largest bank in term of total asset is Canadia Bank at 14.2%, followed by ACLEDA Bank at 12.7%, in third place Advanced Bank of Asia (ABA) at 12.2%) of the overall banking assets as of 2020. These banks are:
There are six banks dominating the Canadian banking sector:
During the 1920s, the term "Big Four" applied to the Four Northern Banks of the Republic of China (i.e., the four most capitalized commercial banks in Northern China). These were the Yien Yieh Commercial Bank, the Kincheng Banking Corporation, the Continental Bank and The China & South Sea Bank. They were contrasted with the Three Southern Banks of Southern China.
By 1949, the "Big Four" banks were the Bank of China, the Bank of Communications, the Central Bank of China, and the Farmers Bank of China. All four were state-owned. Together with the Central Trust of China, Postal Savings and Remittance Bureau of China, and Central Cooperative Treasury of China, these banks were called the "four banks, two bureaus, one treasury" (四行两局一库).
In the People's Republic of China, the "Big Four" banks (四大银行) are:
In Colombia, the ten biggest banking service networks are:
In Czech Republic, the "big three" are:
In France, according to The Banker, the Big Six major banking groups are:
In Hong Kong, some media refer to the following as the "big four":
HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), and Bank of China (Hong Kong) are the three note-issuing banks; Hang Seng and HSBC Hong Kong are both under the common ownership of London-based HSBC Holdings plc. According to Global Retail Banking Cross-sell conducted by RFi group in 2015, HSBC, Bank of China (Hong Kong), and Hang Seng Bank were the top 3 most popular banks in Hong Kong.
In India the largest banks, based on total market capitalization, are:
In Indonesia, the term "big four" is not explicitly used. As of 2018, the four largest banks by total assets are:
BRI, Bank Mandiri, and BNI are all controlled by the central government as state-owned enterprises.
In Ireland, the term "big four" applies to the four largest banks by market capitalisation.
In Israel, the term "big five" is used instead of "big four".
In Italy, the term "big four" isn't commonly used, but the 4 biggest banks in the country by market cap are as follows.
In Japan, the term "big three" is used instead of "big four". The related term city bank is also sometimes used for these banks. The "big three" are:
These banks are all listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange (where they are constituents of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Core30 indices) and the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts; MUFG and SMBC Group are both additionally listed in the Nagoya Stock Exchange and serve as the financial arms of their respective namesake keiretsu (Mitsubishi for MUFG, Sumitomo and Mitsui for SMBC).
According to a consumer survey conducted in 2019, the "big four" retail banks in Latvia are:
In Lebanon, where the banks have retained their banking secrecy laws since 1956, which is prevalent in the whole MENA region, and while adopting international measures to fight money laundering, the "big four" banks consist of:
Furthermore, as of September 2016, there are more than 51 banks in Lebanon, one of the smallest countries in the Middle East, a fact that has always made investors from the Arab countries, especially the GCC petrodollar in addition to the European and world investors, to place their funds in the Lebanese banks.
The "big four" full-service banks in Luxembourg are:
There are bigger banks in Luxembourg, but these only deliver a limited number of services such as investment banking, private banking, or corporate banking only. Luxembourg is a financial center.
In Macau, the four major banks are:
According to Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM), the 5 largest Malaysian banks by assets size are:
The "big four" in Mexico are:
According to Asia Times, the four largest banks in Myanmar are:
The "big four" banks in the Netherlands by market concentration are:
The market leader for the Netherlands, ING Group, is one of the world's largest multinational banking and financial service corporations, with products and services reaching over 41 countries worldwide.
New Zealand is Australia's closest neighbour, with very close cultural and economic ties. The big four Australian banks (often referred to collectively as the 'big banks' or the 'big Aussie banks') also dominate the banking sector in New Zealand, through subsidiaries:
Together they hold over 90% of gross loans and advances in New Zealand as well as close to 90% of all mortgages.
These four NZ subsidiaries are massively profitable and sometimes even outperform the Australian parent companies. The extent to which they dominate the banking sector can be seen in profits: In the 2012/2013 financial year, the largest of the Big Banks, ANZ New Zealand, made a profit of NZ$1.37 billion. The smallest, BNZ, made a profit of NZ$695 million. State-owned Kiwibank, community trust-owned TSB Bank, SBS Bank (formerly Southland Building Society) and Heartland Bank, the next four largest banks by profit, made NZ$97 million, NZ$73.5 million, NZ$14 million and NZ$7 million (albeit with an underlying result of about NZ$30 million) respectively. Thus, the profit of New Zealand's next four largest banks (after the Big Four) is equal to less than 30% of the smallest of the Big Four, BNZ.
The term "Big Five" is used instead of four, with five banks dominating the Nigerian banking world. In 2011, these top five banks had a combined balance sheet, including contingents, of 12.9 trillion naira ($821 billion), 33 percent higher than the prior year.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the three largest banks in North Macedonia dominate 60% of the banking market share.
The "top six" banks of Pakistan are:
In Peru the "big four" are:
The term "Big Four" is not explicitly used in the Philippines. The following are the four largest banks in the country in terms of total assets as of March 2020:
The Romanian banking system has almost 40 banks, most detained by local financial vehicles and some subsidiaries of foreign banks. The big four are as follows.
Other major banks are Raiffeisen Bank, Unicredit Bank, and the ING Bank of Holland subsidiary.
Four largest banks by operations and assets in Russia by December 2020:
In Saudi Arabia, the "Big Five" are:
In Singapore, the "Big Three" are:
In South Africa, the "big four" in order of value of assets are:
In South Korea, the "Big Four" are:
As of September 2021, the "big four" in Spain are:
In Sri Lanka, the leading banks are, as of 2020
State-owned banks,
Privately owned banks,
Foreign-owned leading banks,
In Sweden the "big four" are:
In Switzerland, the Big Four are as follows:
In Taiwan, the five "systemic banks" are:
In 2014, the "big four" together held over 66% of gross loans and controlled more than 67% of total assets in the banking system.
Before the Siamese Revolution, the banking system was controlled by foreign powers, particularly the "big four" European banks.
In 2021, the top three largest state-owned banks held over 37.1% of the market share, while Turkey's top four largest foreign-owned banks dominate 22.9% of the overall market share.
Based on the total assets of listed banks at the end of 2017, big five banks in United Arab Emirates are:
In relation to England and Wales, the phrase "big six" is currently used to refer to the six largest High Street retail banking groups:
In relation to Scotland, the phrase "big four" is currently used to refer to the four largest banking groups:
In relation to Northern Ireland, the phrase "big four" is currently used to refer to the four largest banking groups:
Until 1970, the phrase "big five" (as opposed to "little six") was used to refer to the five largest UK clearing banks (institutions which clear bankers' cheques), which in England and Wales were:
After the merger of Westminster Bank, National Provincial Bank and District Bank to form National Westminster Bank (now part of NatWest Group) in 1970, the term "big four" came into use instead.
In the United States, the "big four" banks hold about 45% of all U.S. customer deposits (as of 2018), and each have assets of roughly $1.7 trillion U.S. dollars. As of 2023, they have combined assets of more than $9.2 trillion. The banks are, in order of size:
Regardless of the jurisdiction of charter, the legal entity of these banks are all subsidiaries of Delaware-chartered bank holding companies.
From a retail banking perspective, U.S. Bank and PNC Bank both have significantly more branches than Citibank, the retail banking arm of Citigroup. However, Citigroup still has significantly more assets than U.S. Bancorp and PNC Financial Services.
In Vietnam, the four major banking groups are:
As of the start of 2024, the big four held VNĐ13.5 quadrillion worth of public deposits (bank liabilities), equivalent to 50% of all bank deposits nationwide. Meanwhile, during the annual year 2023, these banks represented 42% of the outstanding loans (bank credit) that were issued over this period nationwide, a total of VNĐ685 trillion.