Singapore-listed
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, which provides services including wealth management and which logged record profits for 2010, has been ranked the world’s financially strongest bank.

OCBC topped the Bloomberg Markets inaugural rankings; other banks in the top three positions are Svenska Handelsbanken in Sweden and National Bank of Canada.

Financial strength has proven a key issue for wealth management clients concerned about issues such as counterparty risk and the robustness of institutions entrusted with their money. Policymakers have sought to upgrade the Basel bank capital rules to make the system less vulnerable to future shocks. 

Bloomberg examined 70 major banks in the middle of March this year, looking at factors such as their Tier 1 capital ratios, ratio of non-performing assets to total assets, loan loss ratios and other metrics.

The bank in Feburary said it achieved a record full-year net profit of S$2.253 billion for the financial year ending on 31 December, 2010, a rise of 15 per cent from 2009.

OCBC Bank was founded in 1932 from the merger of three local banks, the oldest of which was founded in 1912. It is now the second largest financial services group in Southeast Asia by assets. It carries an Aa1 rating from Moody’s, the credit rating agency. Private banking services are provided by its subsidiary Bank of Singapore.