Objective:
To deliver an independent, data-driven ranking of the world’s leading banks using only publicly available sources. No paid submissions, private questionnaires, or undisclosed data are considered.

Core Ranking Factor – Bank Market Capitalisation:
The market capitalisation of each bank, as of 31 July 2025 (USD), is the key integrated metric. This reflects both current scale and investor confidence in future development prospects. It serves as the principal determinant in the final ranking score.

Additional Considerations:

• One-Year Market Cap Dynamics: The percentage change in market capitalisation over the last full calendar year, highlighting growth momentum or contraction.
• International Reach vs. Local Focus: A geographic diversification index is applied, favouring banks with significant operations outside their home country.
• PR Activity & Search Visibility: Frequency of global news and search queries (e.g., via Google Trends, newsfeeds), reflecting public attention and brand visibility.
• Total Assets: The latest available audited total assets are used as a secondary indicator of financial strength.

Ranking Scale:
Each bank receives a proprietary ranking index from 999 (maximum, highest-ranked) to 0 (minimum), computed from a weighted combination of all factors above.

Public Data Sources:
Yahoo Finance; S&P Global Market Intelligence (The world's largest banks by assets, 2024); The Banker (Financial Times, Top 1000 World Banks); Forbes Global 2000; Bloomberg Markets; Annual reports (ICBC, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co.); Relbanks.com; Global Finance Magazine; Brand Finance (Banking 500 Report); Bank for International Settlements (BIS Statistics); European Banking Authority (EBA Risk & Data Analysis).

Key Evaluation Factors

Note: The market capitalisation is the primary but not the only criterion. The final index combines all factors for a comprehensive, forward-looking ranking.