The largest banks in the United States are private commercial enterprises serving American businesses and a significant proportion of international operations. The activities of American banks are very diverse, but many banks are in cooperation with each other and with other organizations.
To better understand the issue, let's see what the top 15 US banks are.
JPMorgan Chase (J.P. Morgan Chase)
✔ Headquarters in New York
✔ Total asset value - USD 3,246,076,000
The largest banking institution in the United States. The first in the "Big Four" banks in America. A conglomerate of several financial companies.
JPMorgan generates most of its revenue from the following operations:
- Serving the population and small businesses, in offices and terminals. These groups of clients receive consumer loans, loans for real estate, keep savings in deposits, payment cards and other banking products at the Bank.
- Serving corporate clients. These are, first of all, banking services for large business: lending, investment, treasury services.
- Operations with clients' assets. The Bank assumes obligations for the placement of securities (shares, bonds, etc.) of clients and transactions with them.
JPMorgan is one of the most powerful depository institutions in the world.
Bank of America
✔ Head office in Charlotte, North Carolina
✔ Total asset value - USD 2,739,684,000
Bank of America's operations are primarily located in the United States. However, the Bank has a network of foreign branches.
The main areas of work of Bank of America:
- Retail banking services. This includes most of the loans to individuals and small businesses, accepting deposits, ATM network, remote access services via the Internet and mobile applications.
- Asset management of large clients: custody services and trust management of funds.
- Serving international transactions. In addition to payments, the Bank advises large clients, places their non-monetary assets, etc.
- Trading in the stock markets.
- Other operations. In addition to the above, Bank of America performs a lot of other operations. For example - reselling risky mortgage contracts, etc.
- Bank of America owns a huge amount of shares in other companies, mostly financial.
The bank is also part of the Big Four and is systemically important for the United States.
Citigroup Inc. 9 (Citigroup)
✔ Head office in New York
✔ Total asset value - USD 2,234,500,000
One of the most famous banking institutions in the United States. Plays an important role in the financial sector in the United States and approximately 160 other countries on different continents.
- Citigroup is active in retail banking for households and small businesses in the United States, Canada and Mexico .
- Of particular importance is the issue of debit and credit bank cards around the world. The cards provide the bulk of the Bank's income from overseas retail operations. And the Bank itself is the world leader in the issuance of credit cards.
- The bank also serves institutional clients. Large corporations and government bodies fall into the category of "institutional".
Citibank owns shares in other companies, but the scope of this business is not particularly large.
Most of Citibank's revenues come from the domestic US market, but the Bank's involvement in foreign operations is very large.
Wells Fargo & Company
✔ Head office is located in San Francisco
✔ Total asset value - $ 1,947,672,000
One of the largest banking conglomerates. Besides the USA Wells Fargo is actively working in Canada.
The main areas of work of the Corporation are:
- Retail banking services.
- Customer asset management.
- Transactions with shares of other companies.
The company owns shares in financial enterprises, industrial and technological corporations, etc.
Goldman Sachs Group ("Goldman Sachs Group")
✔ The main office is located in New York
✔ Total asset value - USD 1,132,059,000
The most famous bank, has been working since 1869, mainly with large clients.
Goldman Sachs activities have several main areas:
- Investment services. In this area, the Bank acts as a consultant for large investors and as a participant in stock market transactions.
- Serving institutional clients in the stock markets, in the field of foreign exchange transactions and exchange trading. On this, the bank earns the highest profit and acquires more than 2/3 of its assets.
- Business financing: investing in existing businesses, direct lending or buying shares, bonds.
- Customer asset management.
Goldman Sachs earns more than half of its profits in America, about a quarter comes from Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and about 1/6 from Asia.
Morgan Stanley ("Morgan Stanley")
✔ Head office in New York
✔ Total asset value - $ 955,940,000
Currently, Morgan Stanley's main area of activity is investing in and trading with securities.
Most of all, the Bank is engaged in:
- Transactions with securities, incl. on the exchanges. The bank provides services to increase capitalization, manage risks, consult, etc.
- Asset management for private investors.
- The Bank also owns securities of other companies, also mostly financial and technological.
Since Morgan Stanley's activity takes place mostly in the stock market, it makes little sense to divide it into domestic and international, since leading issuers of securities and exchanges themselves have long gone beyond the borders of states.
US Bancorp
✔ Head office in Minneapolis, Minnesota
✔ Total asset value - $ 540,455,000
Banking corporation with a wide range of activities, operating mainly in the USA
The most important activities of US Bancorp are defined as follows:
- Serving large and medium-sized businesses: making payments, loans, representing their interests in the financial markets.
- Retail banking, i.e. services to the population and small business: lending, accepting deposits, operations with bank cards.
- Investment and asset management.
The largest part of the assets of US Bancorp are loans issued, the main revenue consists of interest income.
Truist Financial Corporation
✔ Headquarters - Charlotte, North Carolina
✔ Total assets - $ 499,183,000
One of the ten largest banks in America. Offers business and public a wide range of traditional banking products. It has many branches in the eastern states of the United States.
- The main activity is lending to businesses and individuals.
- The bank accepts deposits, and is the leader in terms of their volume in several states.
- Truist Financial Corporation is also involved in insurance operations.
The main income of the Bank consists of interest on loans.
PNC Financial Services Group
✔ Headquarters - Pittsburgh, PA
✔ Total assets - $ 461,817,000
A large financial company operating in several segments of the financial market.
Main directions:
- Retail customer service. It should be emphasized here a wide network of ATMs, loans to small businesses and the issuance of Visa cards.
- Lending to businesses in the USA, Canada and the UK.
- Mortgage credit lending. PNC has a dedicated unit for this business, with offices throughout the United States.
- Institutional banking services, consultations.
The Bank of New York Mellon
✔ Head office in New York
✔ Total assets - $ 428,398,000
The Bank's work is focused on the stock market and asset transactions.
Main directions:
- Custody services. The Bank of New York Mellon is the largest depository bank in the world.
- Investment and brokerage services.
- The bank is also engaged in clearing services, is engaged in foreign exchange transactions.
The Bank of New York Mellon accounts for the bulk of its operations and revenues in the United States, but the Bank has a permanent presence in many countries on all continents.
Capital One Financial Corporation
✔ Head office in Tysons Corner, Virginia
✔ Total assets - $ 421,883,000
A bank specializing in two retail loan products.
Namely on:
- Car loans. Here Capital One Financial Corporation is the second largest provider of this service in the United States.
- Issuing credit cards. The bank is among the top five in issuing Visa and Mastercard cards.
Capital One earns the most revenue from the percentage of its products. In addition to the United States, the Bank is also permanently active in Canada and the United Kingdom.
State Street Corporation
✔ Headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts
✔ Total asset value - $ 272,075,000
A bank that deals with operations with assets and custody services. In this respect, for the State Street Corporation, it will be true what was written above about other banks.
The Bank does not offer retail products. The State Street Corporation owns shares in other companies, mostly finance and technology companies.
American Express (AmEx) - American Express Company
✔ Total assets - $ 187,259,000
✔ Head office in New York
The bank does not need a presentation, because its main products are known all over the world.
This is:
- payment cards;
- credit cards;
- traveler's checks.
The bank earns income from operations with its products in the United States and in other countries.
Ally Financial
✔ Head office in Detroit, Michigan
✔ Total asset value - USD 185,270,000
The bank has several directions, but its main activity concerns the purchase of cars and related services. The bank does not have traditional offices, but operates in a “virtual” format.
This includes:
- car loans;
- holding auctions for the sale of cars;
- related insurance services.
The bank is also engaged in mortgage lending, works with stock exchanges.
Citizens Financial Group
✔ Headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island
✔ Total assets - $ 179,228,000
One of the largest American banks. Works mostly in the eastern states of the United States.
From 1988 to 2015, Citizens Financial Group belonged to the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, one of the largest British banks. However, in the wake of the losses of the British owner, Citizens Financial Group was sold through a public offering. From that moment on, the Bank resumed its independent history. At its peak in 2015, the Bank served customers through 1,200 branches and 3,200 ATMs.
Main directions:
- A full range of banking services for individuals. For this, the Bank opened its branches in supermarkets.
- Services for small businesses: lending, placement of funds, servicing international transactions.
- Working with large corporate clients. It also deals with settlement support and investment management.
The Bank received negative publicity from the 2015 investigation of incomplete crediting of funds to customer accounts. Then there was an accusation of supporting Donald Trump with a loan of about $ 3 million.
Nevertheless, the Bank went through all the tests, resolved conflicts and continues to develop.