The World’s Top 50 Safest Banks 2022

Posted by on

The Global Finance magazine published their annual list of the world’s safest banks for 2022 in November last year. With the banking sector under stress and many uncertainties facing investors, the list can be a good starting point for further research. Despite the dramatic decline in equity markets and economic volatility in 2022, the top 10 banks remained stable showing resilience. In fact, they remain unchanged from the previous year.

The world’s safest bank was Germany’s Kfw. This bank took the top spot for an astonishing 14th year in a row. Canada’s Royal Bank of Canada (RY) jumped from 20th rank a year ago to 11th this year.

Below is the methodology used by Global Finance to shortlist the winners:

Our rankings apply to the world’s largest 500 banks by asset size and are calculated based on long-term foreign currency ratings issued by Fitch Ratings, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service. Where possible, ratings on holding companies rather than operating companies were used; and banks that are wholly owned by other banks were omitted. Within each rank set, banks are organized according to asset size based on data for the most recent annual reporting period provided by Fitch Solutions and Moody’s. Ratings are reproduced with permission from the three rating agencies, with all rights reserved. A ranking is not a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold a security; and it does not comment on market price or suitability for a particular investor. All ratings in the tables were valid as of August 31, 2022.

The World’s Top 50 Safest Banks 2022:

Click to enlarge

Source: World’s Safest Banks 2022, Global Finance

A few observations:

  • All the 5 major Canadian banks are in this list.
  • The 4 US banks in the ranking are relatively unknown – AgriBank, CoBank, AgFirst and Farm Credit Bank of Texas. All four are part of the US Farm Credit System.
  • Similarly the 4 major banks of Australia also made it to the list.
  • Interestingly Credit Suisse of Switzerland did not make the cut but UBS (UBS) did.

Disclosure: Long RY

The World’s Top 10 Highest Mountain Peaks: Chart

Posted by on

The World’s Highest Mountain Peak is the famous Mount Everest in Nepal. Everest stands at an astonishing 26404.2 feet. The second highest peak is K2 at 28,251 feet. It is also located in the Himalayas. Climbing these peaks is not for the faint hearted. Just this week a Seattle-based US doctor died trying to climb Everest. For many people hiking to the base camp of these peaks is in itself an adventure and a challenge. One of the popular ones is the Annapurna Base Camp or ABC trek.

With that brief intro, the following chart shows The World’s Top 10 Highest Peaks:

Click to enlarge

Source: Is K2, the “Savage Mountain,” Becoming Less Savage?, Climbing.com

Below is a short excerpt from the above article:

K2 (8,611 meters/28,251 feet), or “Chogori,” is the world’s second highest mountain, after Everest (8,048 meters). Unlike Everest and the eight other highest mountains on Earth, K2 is not located in the Himalaya, however, but in Pakistan’s Karakorum. K2 is situated on the border of the Pakistani-Kashmir region Gilgit-Baltistan, and a slice of Kashmir administered by China as part of Xinjiang. All 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks, and the vast majority of the 100 highest mountains on the planet, are located in either the Karakorum or Himalaya. 

Also known as the “Savage Mountain,” K2 is generally considered among the most difficult of the world’s 8,000ers, and its death rate was historically one of the highest of all 14 mountains, along with Annapurna I (8,091 meters) and Nanga Parbat (8,126 meters). The former sits at a death rate of approximately 25%, while Parbat and K2 have traditionally held death rates in the low 20 percents. However, swarms of K2 ascents in recent years, notably in 2022, are contributing to lowering the K2’s overall death rate, which currently sits around 13%. K2 was the last of the 8,000-meter peaks to see a winter ascent (in 2021).

The full piece is worth a read.

How BIG is Mexico: Map

Posted by on

Mexico looks small when we look at the map especially when the northern neighbors US and Canada are so big. However I recently learned that Mexico is a big country. The following description details how big the country is:

Mexico is a nation in the southern part of North America. It is bordered to the north by the U.S., to the southeast by Belize and Guatemala. Mexico is a vast country. It covers almost 2 million square kilometers (~762 thousand sq mi), making it the global’s 13th-biggest nation by area. Moreover, Mexico is a tenth-most-populous nation (about 129 million citizens) and the most populated Spanish-speaking country.

Mexico doesn’t look big on maps that have a Mercator projection due to distortion. The maps below clearly convey the real size of this country.

The United Kingdom, Germany and other 21 European countries fit into Mexico.

Click to enlarge

Source: How big is Mexico?, VividMaps.com

Hat Tip: Marginal Revolution

The Periodic Table for Developed Markets Equity Returns from 2002 to 2021: Chart

Posted by on

One of the key strategies for success with equity investing is diversification. I have written many times before that diversification can be done in many ways. For instance, one can diversify across sectors, regions, countries, asset classes, etc. When investing in overseas markets it is critical that an investor spread their assets across countries since no country is the top performer year after year consistently.

The following chart shows the performance of developed markets from 2002 to 2021:

Click to enlarge:

Source: Which Country Will Outperform? Here’s Why It Shouldn’t Matter, Dimensional Fund Advisors 

Below is a brief excerpt from the above article:

• Austria posted the highest developed markets return in 2017—but the lowest the next year.

• The US ranked in the top five for annualized returns over the entire 20 years but finished first in the country rankings just once over that period. In nine calendar years, it was in the lower half of performers.

Map of The Russian Empire From 1533 To Early Nineteeth Century

Posted by on

I have no way to defend my borders but to extend them

Empress Catherine the Great of Russia

I came across this interesting map of the expansion of the Russian empire. In the 1500s Russia was small. Then over the next few centuries it conquered many lands and the Soviet Union became the largest country in the world. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia is still the largest country in the world in terms of land size. Modern day Ukraine was acquired by the empire somewhere between 1689 to 1801.

Click to enlarge

Source: Brittanica via The Forgotten Russian Colony in Africa, Medium