Banking Concentration by Country (2021 Data)

In 108 of the 136 economies with a figure for 2021, the three largest commercial banks held more than half of all commercial bank assets, according to the World Bank's Global Financial Development Database. The United States was among the least concentrated: its three largest commercial banks held 38.4%, and only seven economies had a lower share. In the median economy the three largest held 67.7%, according to the World Bank. 2021 is the latest year the World Bank has published: the database was last updated in September 2022.

These are the World Bank's own figures, computed by the World Bank from bank-by-bank data and published for each economy. Finantrix Atlas ranked the economies and computed the medians, the regional summary and the changes since 2015.

The 20 largest economies

The 20 economies with the largest GDP in 2021, in current US dollars from the World Bank's World Development Indicators, among those with a concentration figure. According to the World Bank, the three largest commercial banks held more than half of commercial bank assets in 12 of them.

Economy	Three largest banks' share	Five largest banks' share	Change since 2015 (points)	Source
Netherlands	88.3%	92.6%	+8.6	World Bank
Germany	79.4%	94.3%	+2.2	World Bank
Saudi Arabia	73.1%	92.9%	+18.3	World Bank
Spain	72.0%	85.1%	+13.6	World Bank
Brazil	70.4%	79.4%	−3.5	World Bank
Australia	69.1%	91.2%	−0.8	World Bank
France	66.3%	78.5%	+0.8	World Bank
Switzerland	65.6%	84.2%	−12.4	World Bank
Italy	62.6%	73.8%	+1.1	World Bank
Canada	60.7%	84.8%	−0.4	World Bank
Korea, Rep.	56.3%	88.0%	−7.8	World Bank
Russian Federation	50.4%	69.8%	−4.5	World Bank
Mexico	49.5%	67.2%	−2.7	World Bank
Turkey	46.8%	68.1%	+7.8	World Bank
Japan	46.3%	63.6%	+1.8	World Bank
Indonesia	43.3%	57.1%	+3.5	World Bank
United Kingdom	42.9%	59.9%	−15.0	World Bank
India	40.9%	53.4%	+11.3	World Bank
United States	38.4%	49.7%	−3.9	World Bank
China	38.3%	54.2%	−2.3	World Bank

Every economy, ranked

The share of commercial bank assets held by the three largest commercial banks in 2021, from the most concentrated to the least, with the World Bank's five-bank figure beside it and the change since 2015 in percentage points.

Rank	Economy	Region (World Bank)	Three largest banks' share	Five largest banks' share	Change since 2015 (points)	Source
1	Barbados §	Latin America & Caribbean	100.0%	not published	+0.0	World Bank
2	Fiji §	East Asia & Pacific	100.0%	not published	+18.4	World Bank
3	Iceland §	Europe & Central Asia	100.0%	not published	+7.2	World Bank
4	Lesotho §	Sub-Saharan Africa	100.0%	not published	+3.2	World Bank
5	Liberia §	Sub-Saharan Africa	100.0%	not published	+5.5	World Bank
6	Malawi §	Sub-Saharan Africa	100.0%	not published	+28.7	World Bank
7	Lebanon §	Middle East & North Africa	99.7%	not published	+59.4	World Bank
8	Namibia §	Sub-Saharan Africa	98.8%	not published	+14.5	World Bank
9	Lithuania §	Europe & Central Asia	98.7%	not published	+7.4	World Bank
10	North Macedonia §	Europe & Central Asia	97.4%	not published	+33.7	World Bank
11	Bermuda	North America	96.6%	99.6%	−0.1	World Bank
12	Qatar §	Middle East & North Africa	96.6%	not published	+7.3	World Bank
13	Bhutan §	South Asia	92.9%	not published	−1.6	World Bank
14	Finland	Europe & Central Asia	92.6%	95.9%	−1.1	World Bank
15	Trinidad and Tobago §	Latin America & Caribbean	92.6%	not published	−7.4	World Bank
16	Greece	Europe & Central Asia	92.4%	98.1%	−5.8	World Bank
17	Estonia	Europe & Central Asia	91.4%	99.3%	−0.9	World Bank
18	Myanmar	East Asia & Pacific	91.0%	100.0%	−5.4	World Bank
19	Sweden	Europe & Central Asia	89.6%	93.2%	−2.5	World Bank
20	Malta	Middle East & North Africa	89.4%	97.6%	−1.2	World Bank
21	Curaçao	Latin America & Caribbean	88.4%	100.0%	−1.3	World Bank
22	Netherlands	Europe & Central Asia	88.3%	92.6%	+8.6	World Bank
23	Tajikistan	Europe & Central Asia	85.9%	99.6%	+3.7	World Bank
24	Haiti	Latin America & Caribbean	85.6%	97.4%	+5.3	World Bank
25	Mongolia	East Asia & Pacific	85.1%	99.1%	+6.3	World Bank
26	Cyprus	Europe & Central Asia	84.8%	91.4%	+8.2	World Bank
27	Venezuela, RB	Latin America & Caribbean	84.5%	92.5%	not published	World Bank
28	Georgia	Europe & Central Asia	84.3%	91.1%	+12.0	World Bank
29	Nicaragua	Latin America & Caribbean	84.0%	99.6%	−10.7	World Bank
30	Jamaica	Latin America & Caribbean	83.4%	96.5%	+14.7	World Bank
31	Montenegro	Europe & Central Asia	83.2%	98.1%	+31.2	World Bank
32	Kuwait	Middle East & North Africa	82.3%	99.7%	+1.5	World Bank
33	Bahrain	Middle East & North Africa	82.0%	98.4%	+2.1	World Bank
34	Zimbabwe	Sub-Saharan Africa	81.8%	100.0%	+25.1	World Bank
35	Denmark	Europe & Central Asia	81.8%	89.9%	−2.2	World Bank
36	Singapore	East Asia & Pacific	80.8%	92.2%	−6.4	World Bank
37	Tanzania	Sub-Saharan Africa	80.5%	91.5%	+32.3	World Bank
38	South Africa	Sub-Saharan Africa	79.4%	99.3%	+0.8	World Bank
39	Germany	Europe & Central Asia	79.4%	94.3%	+2.2	World Bank
40	Slovak Republic	Europe & Central Asia	78.9%	99.1%	+11.3	World Bank
41	Mozambique	Sub-Saharan Africa	78.7%	92.5%	+1.5	World Bank
42	Dominican Republic	Latin America & Caribbean	78.1%	88.2%	+4.7	World Bank
43	Burundi	Sub-Saharan Africa	78.0%	100.0%	−13.9	World Bank
44	Macao SAR, China	East Asia & Pacific	76.5%	92.2%	−1.9	World Bank
45	Botswana	Sub-Saharan Africa	75.8%	94.2%	+11.1	World Bank
46	Israel	Middle East & North Africa	75.8%	94.5%	−6.3	World Bank
47	Latvia	Europe & Central Asia	74.6%	89.9%	−14.2	World Bank
48	Egypt, Arab Rep.	Middle East & North Africa	74.5%	84.2%	+18.7	World Bank
49	El Salvador	Latin America & Caribbean	74.4%	87.3%	−7.7	World Bank
50	Albania	Europe & Central Asia	74.0%	87.9%	+8.7	World Bank
51	Colombia	Latin America & Caribbean	73.8%	90.2%	+9.3	World Bank
52	Ireland	Europe & Central Asia	73.8%	86.1%	+5.7	World Bank
53	Cabo Verde	Sub-Saharan Africa	73.6%	93.9%	−11.2	World Bank
54	United Arab Emirates	Middle East & North Africa	73.2%	85.2%	+19.2	World Bank
55	Saudi Arabia	Middle East & North Africa	73.1%	92.9%	+18.3	World Bank
56	Guyana	Latin America & Caribbean	72.9%	97.0%	+0.8	World Bank
57	Uruguay	Latin America & Caribbean	72.8%	89.3%	−0.1	World Bank
58	Spain	Europe & Central Asia	72.0%	85.1%	+13.6	World Bank
59	Moldova	Europe & Central Asia	70.6%	90.2%	+1.6	World Bank
60	Peru	Latin America & Caribbean	70.6%	87.6%	−2.4	World Bank
61	Brazil	Latin America & Caribbean	70.4%	79.4%	−3.5	World Bank
62	Australia	East Asia & Pacific	69.1%	91.2%	−0.8	World Bank
63	Belarus	Europe & Central Asia	68.9%	85.8%	+8.9	World Bank
64	Portugal	Europe & Central Asia	68.9%	95.1%	+3.1	World Bank
65	Angola	Sub-Saharan Africa	68.4%	82.3%	+13.5	World Bank
66	Côte d'Ivoire	Sub-Saharan Africa	68.3%	91.6%	+23.9	World Bank
67	Azerbaijan	Europe & Central Asia	68.2%	77.7%	+5.4	World Bank
68	Belgium	Europe & Central Asia	68.0%	88.3%	+7.6	World Bank
69	Romania	Europe & Central Asia	67.4%	84.0%	+1.7	World Bank
70	Uganda	Sub-Saharan Africa	67.3%	88.5%	+22.3	World Bank
71	Croatia	Europe & Central Asia	66.8%	85.9%	+2.5	World Bank
72	Morocco	Middle East & North Africa	66.5%	84.3%	−1.2	World Bank
73	Slovenia	Europe & Central Asia	66.5%	82.9%	+12.0	World Bank
74	France	Europe & Central Asia	66.3%	78.5%	+0.8	World Bank
75	Zambia	Sub-Saharan Africa	65.9%	91.4%	+19.5	World Bank
76	Switzerland	Europe & Central Asia	65.6%	84.2%	−12.4	World Bank
77	Afghanistan	South Asia	65.1%	83.1%	+11.7	World Bank
78	Austria	Europe & Central Asia	64.8%	81.9%	−4.9	World Bank
79	Guatemala	Latin America & Caribbean	64.7%	81.0%	−1.9	World Bank
80	Bulgaria	Europe & Central Asia	64.0%	89.7%	+7.6	World Bank
81	Oman	Middle East & North Africa	63.9%	84.9%	−5.5	World Bank
82	Ukraine	Europe & Central Asia	63.6%	78.3%	+23.1	World Bank
83	Czech Republic	Europe & Central Asia	63.2%	76.0%	+2.0	World Bank
84	Jordan	Middle East & North Africa	63.1%	75.0%	−4.0	World Bank
85	Lao PDR	East Asia & Pacific	63.1%	82.9%	−12.8	World Bank
86	Italy	Europe & Central Asia	62.6%	73.8%	+1.1	World Bank
87	Hong Kong SAR, China	East Asia & Pacific	62.5%	73.3%	+0.9	World Bank
88	Rwanda	Sub-Saharan Africa	62.2%	77.3%	+4.2	World Bank
89	Honduras	Latin America & Caribbean	61.7%	80.8%	+6.9	World Bank
90	Hungary	Europe & Central Asia	60.9%	80.3%	−25.8	World Bank
91	Canada	North America	60.7%	84.8%	−0.4	World Bank
92	Bahamas, The	Latin America & Caribbean	60.4%	80.2%	−5.2	World Bank
93	Kazakhstan	Europe & Central Asia	60.3%	76.0%	+8.3	World Bank
94	Uzbekistan	Europe & Central Asia	59.5%	79.7%	+13.7	World Bank
95	Nigeria	Sub-Saharan Africa	59.3%	74.4%	+21.7	World Bank
96	Mauritius	Sub-Saharan Africa	59.1%	76.9%	+12.5	World Bank
97	Sri Lanka	South Asia	57.7%	75.2%	+5.0	World Bank
98	New Zealand	East Asia & Pacific	57.2%	87.8%	−0.6	World Bank
99	Korea, Rep.	East Asia & Pacific	56.3%	88.0%	−7.8	World Bank
100	Costa Rica	Latin America & Caribbean	55.9%	74.7%	−8.8	World Bank
101	Ecuador	Latin America & Caribbean	55.5%	77.5%	−4.4	World Bank
102	Armenia	Europe & Central Asia	55.2%	69.8%	+6.4	World Bank
103	Malaysia	East Asia & Pacific	53.0%	70.1%	+1.5	World Bank
104	Philippines	East Asia & Pacific	52.3%	67.3%	+6.2	World Bank
105	Chile	Latin America & Caribbean	52.2%	78.3%	+3.6	World Bank
106	Argentina	Latin America & Caribbean	52.1%	68.4%	−1.9	World Bank
107	Ethiopia	Sub-Saharan Africa	51.3%	66.3%	−30.3	World Bank
108	Russian Federation	Europe & Central Asia	50.4%	69.8%	−4.5	World Bank
109	Poland	Europe & Central Asia	49.9%	72.7%	+4.5	World Bank
110	Kyrgyz Republic	Europe & Central Asia	49.6%	68.8%	−3.0	World Bank
111	Mexico	Latin America & Caribbean	49.5%	67.2%	−2.7	World Bank
112	Syrian Arab Republic	Middle East & North Africa	49.2%	67.3%	−25.9	World Bank
113	Serbia	Europe & Central Asia	47.7%	67.5%	−2.9	World Bank
114	Turkey	Europe & Central Asia	46.8%	68.1%	+7.8	World Bank
115	Japan	East Asia & Pacific	46.3%	63.6%	+1.8	World Bank
116	Thailand	East Asia & Pacific	44.8%	68.5%	−0.2	World Bank
117	Kenya	Sub-Saharan Africa	44.8%	60.0%	+6.4	World Bank
118	Tunisia §	Middle East & North Africa	44.5%	not published	+5.8	World Bank
119	Panama	Latin America & Caribbean	43.8%	61.0%	+5.2	World Bank
120	Cambodia	East Asia & Pacific	43.5%	52.7%	+3.0	World Bank
121	Bolivia	Latin America & Caribbean	43.3%	64.5%	−4.1	World Bank
122	Indonesia	East Asia & Pacific	43.3%	57.1%	+3.5	World Bank
123	Luxembourg	Europe & Central Asia	43.3%	57.4%	+5.3	World Bank
124	United Kingdom	Europe & Central Asia	42.9%	59.9%	−15.0	World Bank
125	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Europe & Central Asia	41.7%	56.2%	+2.7	World Bank
126	Paraguay	Latin America & Caribbean	41.5%	60.2%	−9.1	World Bank
127	India	South Asia	40.9%	53.4%	+11.3	World Bank
128	Pakistan	South Asia	40.6%	56.0%	−0.6	World Bank
129	United States	North America	38.4%	49.7%	−3.9	World Bank
130	China	East Asia & Pacific	38.3%	54.2%	−2.3	World Bank
131	Vietnam	East Asia & Pacific	37.9%	48.3%	−15.1	World Bank
132	Ghana	Sub-Saharan Africa	32.8%	50.1%	+3.5	World Bank
133	Iraq	Middle East & North Africa	29.3%	45.0%	−52.9	World Bank
134	Bangladesh	South Asia	26.8%	35.2%	−1.8	World Bank
135	Taiwan, China	East Asia & Pacific	25.1%	38.2%	−4.6	World Bank
136	Nepal	South Asia	17.9%	27.2%	−1.4	World Bank

§ No five-bank figure. The World Bank publishes the five-bank share only when its source covers five or more banks in the economy, so a § row's figure rests on three or four banks. Where such a row shows the three largest at the full share, the source covers no other commercial bank there.

Download this table (CSV), free. The full dataset, every economy with its region, income group, both concentration figures, the 2015 figure and GDP, plus the economies whose latest figure is older than 2021, is one email away.

By region

According to the World Bank's figures, the median three-bank share is highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, at 73.6%, and lowest in South Asia, at 40.9%. Regions are as the World Bank classes each economy in the database.

Region (World Bank)	Economies with a figure	Median three-bank share	Economies above half	Source
Sub-Saharan Africa	21	73.6%	19	World Bank
Middle East & North Africa	15	73.2%	12	World Bank
Latin America & Caribbean	25	70.6%	21	World Bank
Europe & Central Asia	46	68.1%	39	World Bank
North America	3	60.7%	2	World Bank
East Asia & Pacific	19	56.3%	12	World Bank
South Asia	7	40.9%	3	World Bank

What changed since 2015

The World Bank computed these figures from one source, Bureau van Dijk's Orbis, from 2015 on, and from its predecessor, Bankscope, before that, according to the database's own metadata. So change is measured only from 2015, the first year of the same source. Of the 135 economies with a figure in both years, the three-bank share rose in 78 and fell in 56, and was unchanged in one, according to World Bank data; the median change was a rise of 1.8 percentage points. In the United States it went from 42.3% to 38.4%, down 3.9 percentage points, according to the World Bank.

The United States, and the US page

According to the World Bank, the three largest US commercial banks held 38.4% of US commercial bank assets in 2021, and the five largest held 49.7%. Only seven economies had a lower three-bank share: Nepal; Taiwan, China; Bangladesh; Iraq; Ghana; Vietnam; and China.

That figure is not the one on How Concentrated Is US Banking?, and the two should not be compared directly. That page groups every FDIC-insured bank under its holding company and measures each organization's share of all insured bank assets, from FDIC Call Reports. The World Bank's figure counts commercial banks one at a time, unconsolidated, as its source covers them, and divides by the commercial bank assets in that source. Use that page for the US over time; use this one to place the US among other economies on one measure.

What this means for technology buyers

Where three banks hold most of a banking system, a technology vendor selling into that economy meets a handful of large buyers, each with its own procurement; where shares are low, the same product meets many smaller banks with different needs. A bank that works across several of these economies answers to each one's supervisor. These guides compare the options side by side:

• Regulatory reporting platforms for Basel compliance: the reporting stack a bank's supervisor sets the scope of.
• Sanctions screening software for global banks: screening across the many jurisdictions a cross-border bank works in.
• SWIFT messaging migration tools: the move to the new payment messaging standard, for banks that pay across borders.
• Core banking systems for neobanks: the ledger under a new entrant competing with established banks.

Mapping the business? The Retail Bank Business Capability Model maps what a bank does, from taking deposits to moving money.

More from Finantrix Atlas

• How concentrated is US banking?
• Banks supervised by the ECB
• Account ownership around the world
• Digital payments adoption around the world

How this list was built

The universe is every economy with a three-bank concentration figure for 2021 in the World Bank's Global Financial Development Database, read from the workbook the World Bank lists as its latest version (September 2022). No figure is carried forward from an earlier year: an economy without a 2021 figure is not ranked, and its latest figure is in the full dataset with its year.

Every economy-year of both indicators in the workbook was checked against the World Bank's data API, which serves the same series: the two agree on every value, and neither carries a value the other lacks. The 20 largest economies are chosen by GDP in current US dollars for 2021, from World Development Indicators. Taiwan, China has no GDP figure there and is not among them.

The World Bank's GFDD page says the database has evolved into FinData, its updated financial development database. A search of FinData's indicators when this page was built found none for bank concentration, so the September 2022 version remains the World Bank's latest published figure.

Limits

• Old data. 2021 is the newest year, and the database has not been updated since September 2022. Mergers and failures since then are not reflected.
• Commercial banks only, as the source covers them. The share is of commercial bank assets as the World Bank defines the measure, not of all deposit-taking institutions. Where savings banks, cooperative banks or credit unions fall outside that category, a system with many of them can look more concentrated than its whole banking sector.
• Unconsolidated, one bank at a time. Two banks under one owner count as two, so the measure can understate concentration where a group runs several banks.
• A short list behind some figures. According to the World Bank's rule for the five-bank figure, 14 economies have none because its source covers fewer than five banks there, and 6 of them show the three largest at the full share. Both are marked § and kept, because the World Bank publishes them.
• A change of source. The World Bank switched from Bankscope to Orbis in 2015, so change is measured only within the Orbis years.
• What the measure does not show. Concentration is not competition: it says nothing about prices, entry, or how banks in a concentrated system behave.
• Data date. Calendar year 2021, from the September 2022 version of the Global Financial Development Database.

Cite this

Free to quote, cite and republish, including the chart, with credit to Finantrix Atlas and a link to this page.

In 108 of 136 economies, the three largest commercial banks held more than half of commercial bank assets in 2021, according to a Finantrix Atlas analysis of the World Bank's Global Financial Development Database.

The three largest US commercial banks held 38.4% of US commercial bank assets in 2021, one of the lowest shares among 136 economies, according to World Bank data compiled by Finantrix Atlas.

Suggested citation: Finantrix Atlas, "Banking Concentration by Country," 2021 data, from the World Bank, Global Financial Development Database (September 2022 version), licensed under CC BY 4.0. https://www.finantrix.com/articles/bank-concentration-global

Data credit: World Bank, Global Financial Development Database, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license as the World Bank's data licensing terms and its data catalog entry set out; GDP from the World Bank's World Development Indicators. Changes: Finantrix Atlas ranked the economies and computed the medians, regional summary and changes; the shares are as published.

Embed the chart:

<a href="https://www.finantrix.com/articles/bank-concentration-global"><img src="https://www.finantrix.com/atlas/bank-concentration-global.png" alt="Bank concentration in the largest economies, from World Bank data, by Finantrix Atlas"></a>
<p>Chart: <a href="https://www.finantrix.com/articles/bank-concentration-global">Finantrix Atlas</a>, from World Bank Global Financial Development Database data (CC BY 4.0).</p>

Frequently asked questions

Q: Which countries have the most concentrated banking systems? A: In 108 of 136 economies, the three largest commercial banks held more than half of commercial bank assets in 2021, according to the World Bank; the full ranking is in the table above.

Q: How concentrated is US banking compared with other countries? A: Less than almost anywhere else on this measure: the three largest US commercial banks held 38.4% of commercial bank assets in 2021, and only seven economies had a lower share, according to World Bank data.

Q: What does bank concentration measure? A: The share of an economy's commercial bank assets held by its three largest commercial banks, as the World Bank computes it from bank-by-bank data. The World Bank also publishes the share of the five largest, which was 84.2% in the median economy in 2021.

Q: Why is the latest year 2021? A: The World Bank last updated the Global Financial Development Database in September 2022, with data through 2021, and its successor database, FinData, carries no bank concentration indicator.