Global Finance presents the safest banks by country for 2025.
To emerge as a country winner in our rankings, a bank must maintain a leading franchise amid intense competition in its domestic, regional, and global markets. Each bank has unique challenges related to modernizing bank operations, including costly investment in technology and the need to identify new revenue streams and cost efficiencies. Declining interest rates present opportunities for balance-sheet expansion, but potential margin compression could weigh on profitability. Globally, banks must navigate geopolitical risks related to the impact of US trade policy on clients and on bank-operating performance.
This year, we recognize winners in 113 countries, territories, and districts. Twelve new entrants and two new countries are now represented among our winners. In applying our methodology, many factors determine country winners: These include, activity from rating changes for sovereigns and banks, new ratings initiated by the agencies, and ratings withdrawn. Asset size serves as a frequent tiebreaker.
In the Asia-Pacific region, ratings activity in Mongolia produced a new winner; in October 2024, S&P upgraded the country’s sovereign rating to B+ from B and followed with upgrades to Golomt Bank and our 2024 winner, Development Bank of Mongolia, bringing both banks to the same ratings level. Additionally, Fitch initiated coverage of Golomt Bank in March. While Golomt and Development Bank of Mongolia now carry identical scores, asset size enabled Golomt to win for Mongolia.
Bank Danamon wins in Indonesia, as Moody’s carries a more favorable view of the bank’s fundamentals, with a rating one notch higher than incumbent Bank Mandiri.
Within Central and Eastern Europe, two countries are now newly represented. Bosnia and Herzegovina enters our ranking as S&P assigned a new rating on Nasa Banka, a small universal bank with approximately $180 million in assets and a 3%-4% market share of banking system assets. In Turkmenistan, Fitch initiated coverage of State Bank of Turkmenistan with a BB- rating in June.
In Georgia, two banks have alternated as winners over the past several years. Due to their identical ratings profile and score, balance sheet size is the differentiator in determining the winner this year. With its slightly larger asset base, Bank of Georgia reclaims the top spot, supplanting TBC Bank. Kyrgyzstan has a new winner as S&P initiated coverage with a B+ rating in /April of government-owned Aiyl Bank, the largest bank in the country, with 20% of system assets. Incumbent winner Bakai Bank also picked up a new B- rating from Fitch, but the bank’s score still wasn’t enough to repeat as Kyrgyzstan’s winner. Last year’s winner repeats this year in Lithuania, but has been rebranded as Artea Bankas from Siauliu Bankas.
In Cyprus, Bank of Cyprus is the country’s largest domestic bank. Its improving credit profile was the catalyst for rating upgrades from all three agencies earlier this year. Incumbent Hellenic Bank received a Moody’s upgrade in March, but, its score does not surpass Bank of Cyprus. In April, S&P raised Italy’s sovereign rating one notch to BBB+ and followed with similar action on several banks including UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo. Additionally, UniCredit picked up a Fitch upgrade to BBB+ from BBB in October 2024, which allowed it to outscore Intesa and claim the country win for Italy.
There was notable sovereign rating action in the Middle East, as Saudi Arabia benefitted from Moody’s and S&P upgrades and both agencies followed through with upgrades on a range of banks. However, Saudi National Bank retained its place as country winner: yet another instance in which a sovereign upgrade increases all banks’ scores in lockstep, leaving the incumbent winner in the top spot.
In Africa, Rawbank is our new winner in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; it is the country’s only rated entity following Moody’s withdrawal of its rating for Equity Banque.
In Latin America, Argentina has a new winner as Moody’s upgraded the country’s sovereign rating in January and July and made successive upgrades to Banco Santander Argentina in those months, raising its rating three notches. With these actions, the bank replaced incumbent Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires.
Methodology
To be eligible for inclusion in Global Finance’s World’s Safest Banks by country, institutions must rank among the world’s largest 1,000 banks by assets and carry at least one long-term foreign currency deposit or debt rating from one of the three major rating agencies. Wholly owned subsidiaries are ineligible. Criteria are broader than for our global rankings, which require a position among the largest 500 banks and rating by at least two agencies.
North America
Latin America & Caribbean
Western Europe
Central & Eastern Europe
Asia-Pacific
Middle East
Africa
Australasia
