Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo is one of the "Big Four Banks" of the United States, along with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup-its main competitors.The company operates across 35 countries and has over 70 million customers globally. In 2012, it had more than 9,000 retail branches and over 12,000 automated teller machines in 39 states and the District of Columbia. In July, 2015, Wells Fargo became the world's largest bank by market capitalization, edging past ICBC.

In February 2014 Wells Fargo was named the world's most valuable bank brand for the second year running in The Banker and Brand Finance study of the top 500 banking brands.

Main article: History of Wells Fargo
The current Wells Fargo is a result of a 1998 merger between Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation and the original Wells Fargo. The new company kept the Wells Fargo name to capitalize on the long history of the nationally recognized Wells Fargo name and its trademark stagecoach (the company's previous slogan, "The Next Stage," is likely a nod to the company's trademark. After the acquisition, the parent company kept its headquarters in San Francisco. The company's current tagline, "Together we'll go far" also references the stagecoach motif, its customers, and represents the company name itself in a transposed way 

There are many mini-branches located inside of other buildings, which are almost exclusively grocery stores, that usually contain ATMs, basic teller services, and, space permitting, an office for private meetings with customers.

A former Wachovia branch converted to Wells Fargo in the fall of 2011 in Durham, North Carolina.
On October 3, 2008, Wachovia agreed to be bought by Wells Fargo for about $14.8 billion in an all-stock transaction. This news came four days after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation FDIC made moves to have Citigroup buy Wachovia for $2.1 billion. Citigroup protested Wachovia's agreement to sell itself to Wells Fargo and threatened legal action over the matter. However, the deal with Wells Fargo overwhelmingly won shareholder approval since it valued Wachovia at about seven times what Citigroup offered. To further ensure shareholder approval, Wachovia issued Wells Fargo with preferred stock holding 39.9% of the voting power in the company.

On October 4, 2008, a New York state judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the transaction from going forward while the situation was sorted out.Citigroup alleged that they had an exclusivity agreement with Wachovia that barred Wachovia from negotiating with other potential buyers. The injunction was overturned late in the evening on October 5, 2008, by New York state appeals court. Citigroup and Wells Fargo then entered into negotiations brokered by the FDIC to reach an amicable solution to the impasse. Those negotiations failed. Sources say that Citigroup was unwilling to take on more risk than the $42 billion that would have been the cap under the previous FDIC-backed deal (with the FDIC incurring all losses over $42 billion. Citigroup did not block the merger, but indicated they would seek damages of $60 billion for breach of an alleged exclusivity agreement with Wachovia....

Bank of China

Bank of China Limited (simplified Chinese  traditional Chinese pinyin: Zhōngguó Yínháng; often abbreviated as  in Hong Kong or  in mainland is one of the 5 biggest state-owned commercial banks in China.

It was founded in 1912 by the Republican government to replace the Imperial Bank of China. It is the oldest bank in mainland China still in existence. From its establishment until 1942, it issued banknotes on behalf of the Government along with the "Big Four" banks of the period: the Farmers Bank of China, Bank of Communications and Central Bank of the Republic of China. Its headquarters are in Xicheng District, Beijing.

As of 31 December 2009, it was the second largest lender in China overall, and the 5th largest bank in the world by market capitalization value.As of 30 June 2015, it has the third highest proportion of interest payable of Chinese companies

Daqing Bank's Dalian Branch 1910, now Dalian branch of China CITIC Bank

The Bank of China's history began in 1905, when the Qing government established Daqing Hubu Bank[5] (in Chinese in Beijing, which was in 1908 renamed to Daqing Bank (in Chinese  When the Republic of China was established in 1912, it was further renamed as Bank of China by President Sun Yat-sen's government, adding a new role of the central bank.

After the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, the Bank of China effectively split into two operations. Part of the bank relocated to Taiwan with the Kuomintang KMT government. It was privatised in 1971 to become the International Commercial Bank of China . It has subsequently merged with the Taiwan Bank of Communications (Chiao Tung Bank, to become the Mega International Commercial Bank  The Mainland operation is the current entity known as the Bank of China.

It is the second largest lender in China overall, and the fifth largest bank in the world by market capitalization value.[3] Once 100% owned by the central government, via China Central Huijin and National Council for Social Security Fund SSF, an Initial public offering IPO of its shares took place in June 2006, the free float is at present over 26%. In the Forbes Global 2000 it ranked as the 21st-largest company in the world.

It is the most international of China's banks, with branches on every inhabited continent. Outside of mainland China, BOC also operates in 27 countries and areas including Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Russia, Hungary, United States, Panama, Brazil, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Bahrain, Zambia, South Africa, and a branch office in the Cayman Islands. In December 2010, the Bank of China New York branch began offering renminbi products for Americans. It was the first major Chinese bank to offer such a product.

Although it is present in the above countries/territories, its operations outside China accounted for less than 4% of the activity of the bank by both profits and assets. Mainland China accounts for 60% of the bank by profits and 76% by assets as at December 2005.....

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank AG literally "German Bank"; pronounced is a German global banking and financial services company with its headquarters in the Deutsche Bank Twin Towers in Frankfurt. It has more than 100,000 employees in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and the emerging markets. In 2009, Deutsche Bank was the largest foreign exchange dealer in the world with a market share of 21 percent.The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.

The bank offers financial products and services for corporate and institutional clients along with private and business clients. Services include sales, trading, research and origination of debt and equity; mergers and acquisitions M&A risk management products, such as derivatives, corporate finance, wealth management, retail banking, fund management, and transaction banking.

On 26 July 2011, along with its second quarter earnings report, Deutsche Bank reported that Anshu Jain, head of investment banking and Juergen Fitschen, head of the German business, would replace Josef Ackermann as co-CEOs starting in 2012. Fears that Deutsche Bank could neglect its German roots and expand risk-taking activities prompted key members of the supervisory board to opt for the dual CEO model. Deutsche Bank is listed on both the Frankfurt FWB and New York stock exchanges NYSE.


On 7 June 2015, the co-CEOs, Juergen Fitschen and Anshu Jain, both offered their resignations to the bank's supervisory board, which resignations were accepted. Anshu Jain's resignation takes effect on 30 June 2015, although he will provide consultancy to the bank until January 2016. Juergen Fitschen will temporarily continue as joint CEO until 19 May 2016. The appointment of John Cryan as joint CEO was announced, effective 1 July 2015; he will become sole CEO at the end of Juergen Fitschen's term.

In January 2014 Deutsche Bank reported a €1.2 billion $1.6 billion pre-tax loss for the fourth quarter of 2013. This came after analysts had predicted a profit of nearly €600 million, according to FactSet estimates. Revenues slipped by 16% versus the prior year.

According to the Scorpio Partnership Global Private Banking Benchmark 2014 the company had 384.1 USD Bn of assets under management, an increase of 13.7% on 2013......