An annual evaluation of banks relevant to the global financial system is favorable to Switzerland's largest lenders. Their American counterparts continue to harbor the largest risks.
UBS and Credit Suisse, both based in Zurich, remain grouped in a so-called category 1 of lowest-risk banks, in the Financial Stability Board's yearly assessment of G-SIBs, or global systemically important banks.
This group of 18 lenders makes for the bulk of the total 30 and includes French rivals Crédit Agricole and Société Générale, Spain's Santander, ING in the Netherlands, and North American lenders Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Canada. This group is required to stow an additional one percent capital.
U.S. Risks
The bank with the largest potential to roil the financial system is J.P. Morgan, according to the FSB's monitors. The U.S. universal bank is required to pony up 2.5 percent more capital than those grouped in lower-risk categories. The riskiest category remains vacant.
Among the movers is BNP Paribas, which edged up one group to now sit with Citigroup and HSBC. Goldman Sachs also slid into a higher category, where it is grouped with Bank of America, Barclays, and Deutsche Bank.
