How the Big Four US banks got their names
With its large population, and big number of regional and international banks, the “big four” banks in the US only control around 39 percent of the country’s deposits.
It should also be noted that the banks are traditionally ranked by their total assets, and many of the bigger banks have institutional lending arms and offer other financial services, swelling up their asset base.
In this case, the “big four” in order of total assets are: JP Morgan Chase (US$2.1 trillion), Wells Fargo (US$1.7 trillion), Bank of America (US$1.7 trillion), and Citibank (US$1.3 trillion).
However, Citibank doesn’t really have a big branch network outside of a few major cities, including its home town, New York.
If the “big four” were judged on branches, we’d have this list instead: Wells Fargo (6,201), JP Morgan Chase (5,418), Bank of America (4,708), and US Bank (3,221).
Where’s Citibank on this list? 15th.
Sources: “Banks ranked by total assets”, “Banks ranked by branches” by US Bank Locations
Header image: An American $100 bill by 401K(2) 2012 on Flickr
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