3. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Incorporated, or MUFG, is one of the world's largest banks with assets of around USD $1.7 trillion headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, Inc.

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, Inc. (株式会社三菱東京フィナンシャル・グループ, Kabushiki-gaisha Mitsubishi Tōkyō Finansharu Gurūpu?), or MTFG, was one of Japan's largest banks ranked by assets (an estimated US$1 trillion), second only to Mizuho Holdings. On October 1, 2005, MTFG completed the acquisition of UFJ Holdings, Japan's fourth largest banking group, to form the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), the world's largest bank ranked by assets with ¥190 trillion (approximately $1.7 trillion).

MTFG was widely considered financially the strongest of Japan's large banks, with non-performing loans down to 2.9% of assets.

History

The financial group dates back to 1880 as the Yokohama Specie Bank later renamed to The Bank Of Tokyo, Ltd. Also in 1880, The Mitsubishi Bank, Ltd. was founded by former samurai Yataro Iwasaki. In 1919, the Mitsubishi Bank financed the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, most of which is today Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. In April 1996, The Mitsubishi Bank, Ltd. and The Bank of Tokyo, Ltd. merged.

In July 2004, Japan's fourth-largest financial group UFJ Holdings offered to merge with MTFG. The merger of the two bank holding companies was completed on October 1, 2005. UFJ was created from a merger with the Toyo Trust and Banking, a part of the Toyota Motor Corporation. Toyota's chairman sat on the board of the UFJ which became one of the world's largest money losing corporations. UFJ was accused by the government of corruption and making bad loans to the yakuza crime syndicates. The UFJ is one of the largest shareholders of Toyota. The trust banking and securities units of the two groups were merged on the same day. The core banking units of MTFG and UFJ, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. and UFJ Bank, respectively, continued to operate separately until January 1, 2006, when they were merged to form The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd..

UFJ Holdings, Inc.

UFJ Holdings, Inc., or UFJ, was the weakest among the four major banking groups in Japan. "UFJ" is an abbreviation of "United Financial of Japan", was formed from a merger with the Toyo Trust, a part of the Toyota Motor Corporation. At the time, it was one of the largest shareholders of Toyota. The Chairman of Toyota was a director on its board during the financial scandals and indictments of three UFJ executives. The banking crisis led to its merger, after being one of the world's greatest losing corporations, on October 1, 2005, with the Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group to form the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

Formed April 1, 2001, with the merger of Sanwa Bank, Tokai Bank, and Toyo Trust and Banking.

In July 2004, UFJ announced plans to merge with the Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group. The merger was completed on October 1, 2005, creating the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the world's biggest bank by assets at $1.7 trillion.

Group Companies

* The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.
* Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd., a credit card issuer, formed through the merger of UFJ Card Co., Ltd., Nippon Shinpan Company Limited, UFJ Nicos Co., Ltd., DC Card Co., Ltd. and Kyodo Credit Service Co., Ltd.
* Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation
* Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co., Ltd.
* Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International plc, (UK)
* UnionBanCal Corporation, holding company of Union Bank of California
* The Senshu Bank, Ltd.
* UFJ Credit Co., Ltd.
* Toyo Hosho Services Co., Ltd.
* UFJ Strategic Partner Co., Ltd.
* UFJ Equity Investments Co., Ltd.
* UFJ Trust Equity Co., Ltd.
* NBL Co., Ltd.
* UFJ Business Finance Co., Ltd.
* Toyo Trust Total Finance Co., Ltd.
* MU Investment Co., Ltd.
* Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co., Ltd.
* UFIT Co., Ltd.
* UFJ Capital Co., Ltd.
* UFJ Institute Ltd.
* UFJ Bank Canada, (Canada)
* UFJ Bank Nederland N.V., (The Netherlands)
* Sanwa Capital Finance 1 Limited, (Cayman Islands)
* Sanwa Capital Finance 2 Limited, (Cayman Islands)
* UFJ Capital Finance 1 Limited, (Cayman Islands)
* UFJ Capital Finance 2 Limited, (Cayman Islands)
* UFJ Capital Finance 3 Limited, (Cayman Islands)
* UFJ Capital Finance 4 Limited, (Cayman Islands)
* UFJ Preferred Capital 1 Limited, (Cayman Islands)
* Tokai Preferred Capital Holdings Inc., (USA)
* Tokai Preferred Capital Company L.L.C., (USA)
* UFJ Finance Aruba A.E.C., (Aruba)
* Tokai Finance (Curaçao) N.V., (The Netherlands Antilles)
* TTB Finance Cayman Limited, (Cayman Islands)
* UFJ Investments Asia Limited, (Cayman Islands)

Holdings

* The Chukyo Bank, Ltd. (39.9%)
* The Gifu Bank, Ltd. (21.3%)
* The Taisho Bank, Ltd. (25.9%)
* Central Leasing Co., Ltd. (14%)
* The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Ltd. (29%)
* Mobit Co., Ltd. (50%)
* M&T Information Technology Co., Ltd. (50%)
* Dah Sing Financial Holdings Limited (15.1%) (Hong Kong)
* 19 other companies.

2. BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas is one of the main banks in Europe and France. It was created 23 May 2000 through the merger of Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) and Paribas. Together with Société Générale and Crédit Lyonnais, it is part of the "three old" banks of France. It is part of the CAC 40.

History

BNP was created in 1966 by the merger of Banque Nationale du Commerce et de l'Industrie (BNCI) and Conservatoire National d'Escompte de Paris (CNEP). BNP was privatised in 1993.

Originally the Compagnie Financière de Paris et des Pays-Bas (Finance Corporation of Paris and the Netherlands), the Compagnie Financière de Paribas became simply Paribas in 1998 after acquiring the Compagnie Bancaire. The original deviser of the name Paribas is the Flemish artist and entrepreneur Bobbejaan Schoepen, who invented the name in the beginning of the 60s.

In 1999 BNP and Société Générale fought a complex battle on the stock market, with Société Générale bidding for Paribas and BNP bidding for Société Générale and counter-bidding for Paribas. BNP's bid for Société Générale failed, while its bid for Paribas succeeded leading to a merger of BNP and Paribas.

Until 2001, all Iraqi oil revenues from the Oil for Food program were held in an escrow account run solely by BNP Paribas. Later, the money was held by several unnamed international banks.

Activity

Profile

BNP Paribas is the largest bank in the Eurozone by total assets and second largest by market capitalization according to The Banker magazine. It employs 140,000 people, of which 80,000 work in Europe, and maintains a presence in 87 countries. The bank is active in the finance, investment and asset management markets.

In France, BNP Paribas is active in retail banking with 2,200 branches and over 3,200 ATM machines. BNP Paribas serves over 6 million French households and 60,000 corporate customers.

In the United States, BNP Paribas owns Bank of the West. It also has investment banking capabilities via their BancWest subsidiary. In particular they are strong in equity derivatives, structured products and project finance. In addition, BNP Paribas maintains a strong middle market merchant banking group. This group focuses on providing leveraged acquisition finance to private equity sponsored leveraged buyouts, both through senior secured syndicated loans, high yield bond offerings, equity co-investment, and mezzanine financing.

BNP Paribas is a member of the Global ATM Alliance, a joint venture of several major international banks that allows customers of the banks to use their ATM card or check card at another bank within the Global ATM Alliance with no fees when traveling internationally. Other participating banks are Barclays (United Kingdom), Bank of America (United States), China Construction Bank (China), Deutsche Bank (Germany), Santander Serfin (Mexico), Scotiabank (Canada) and Westpac (Australia and New Zealand).

Events in 2005

On September 23, 2005, BNP Paribas is set to take a 20 percent stake in China's Nanjing City Commercial Bank, a Chinese official and state press reports said on Friday. "BNP is going to sign a deal with us to buy a stake next month," an official from Nanjing City Commercial told AFP. The Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post said BNP would pay up to US$100 million, although the bank official said the figure was incorrect. He declined to give further details. The French newspaper La Tribune reported last month that BNP Paribas had talked to four Chinese commercial banks—Ningbo, Wuxi, Nanjing and Suzhou—and was prepared to invest US$50–100 million. "We've talked to different financial institutions, but only BNP showed its good faith. It was not easy for us to reach an agreement," the Nanjing City Commercial Bank official said. BNP Paribas refused to comment. The International Financial Corporation, the investment arm of the World Bank, already owns 15 percent of Nanjing City Commercial Bank, which has regulatory approval to list on the country's domestic stock markets.

Major shareholders

* AXA
* Customers
* Employees
* General Mediterranean Holdings

Subsidiaries

* Atisreal
* BancWest (Bank of the West & First Hawaiian Bank)
* Banque de Bretagne
* BMCI (Banque Marocaine pour le Commerce et l'Industrie)
* BNP Paribas Arbitrage
* BNP Paribas Asset Management
* BNP Paribas Hong Kong
* BNP Paribas Lease Group
* BNP Paribas Securities Services
* CETELEM
* CortalConsors
* FundQuest
* BNL (Banca Nazionale del Lavoro)
* Geojit (Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd.)
* L'Atelier

Notable current and former employees

Business

* Boris Adlam - British financier
* Nassim Taleb - practitioner of financial mathematics

Politics and public service

* Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou - considered by royalists as the head of the French Royal House.
* Jacques de Larosière - managing director of the International Monetary Fund (1978-87); Governor of the Banque de France (1987-93)

Other

* David McWilliams - economist
* Georges Chodron de Courcel - Managing Director, from the family of Mrs. Bernadette Chirac

1. Deutsche Bank AG, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Deutsche Bank is a bank operating worldwide and employing more than 67,400 people (January, 2007). Its headquarters, the Deutsche Bank Twin Towers, are located in Frankfurt, Germany while its largest division, Corporate and Investment Banking ("CIB"), is headquartered in London. Dr. Josef Ackermann is its CEO and Chairman of the executive committee (the Group Executive Committee), Dr. Clemens Börsig is the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Deutsche Bank, ranked by revenues and profits, is one of the largest investment banks in the world.

History

Deutsche Bank was founded in Germany on January 22, 1870 as a specialist bank for foreign trade in Berlin by the private banker Adelbert Delbruck and the politician Ludwig Bamberger. Its first branches outside Germany were opened in London (1873), Shanghai (1872), and Yokohama (1872). The first directors were Wilhelm Platenius, Georg Siemens, and Hermann Wallich. Deutsche Bank acquired the banks Berliner Bank-Verein and Deutsche Union-Bank in 1876 and became then the largest bank in Germany, surpassing the Disconto-Gesellschaft.

Major projects in its first decades included the Northern Pacific Railroad in the United States (1883) and the Baghdad Railway (1888). It also financed bond offerings of the steel concern Krupp (1885) and introduced the chemical company Bayer on the Berlin stock market.

Twentieth century

Headquarters of the Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt am Main
Headquarters of the Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt am Main

During the first three decades of the 20th century, it expanded quickly and merged with other local German banks, eventually merging with the Disconto-Gesellschaft in 1929.

The history of Deutsche Bank during the Second World War has been well documented by indepedent historians commissioned by the Bank. [1]

Following Germany's defeat in the war, Allied authorities ordered Deutsche's breakup into ten regional banks on April 1, 1948. These 10 regional banks were later consolidated into 3 major banks in 1952:

* Norddeutsche Bank AG
* Süddeutsche Bank AG
* Rheinisch-Westfälische Bank AG

In 1957 these three banks merged and other takeovers followed, such as the GDR's state bank with German reunification in 1990; London investment bank Morgan Grenfell in 1989; Bankers Trust in New York, Crédit Lyonnais Belgium in Brussels in 1999 and a Moscow-based investment bank United Financial Group in Russia in 2006.

In 1995 Deutsche Bank began the transformation from a commercial bank to an investment bank and to provide expertise for investment banking products. By 2005 75% of the Bank's revenues came from investment banking, and the ROE went from 4% to 25%. Deutsche Bank is a world-class leader on the investment banking market, belonging to the so-called bulge bracket.

In 2006 the business in Germany became extended by the acquisition of the Berliner Bank and the Norisbank. Furthermore the Deutsche Bank started to offer financial services in Turkish language called "Bankamiz" in its German branch banks in 2006.

Deutsche Bank is a member of the Global ATM Alliance, a joint venture of several major international banks that allows customers of the banks to use their ATM card or check card at another bank within the Global ATM Alliance with no fees when traveling internationally. Other participating banks are Barclays (United Kingdom), Bank of America (United States), BNP Paribas (France), China Construction Bank (China), Santander Serfin (Mexico), Scotiabank (Canada) and Westpac (Australia and New Zealand).

September 11 attacks

On September 11, 2001, the Deutsche Bank Building, located at 130 Liberty Street in New York City and acquired two years earlier as part of the merger with Bankers Trust, was damaged beyond repair as a result of the 9/11 Terrorist Attack. Large pieces of debris from the Twin Towers hit the Deutsche Bank building, creating a large hole in its center and destroying its main entrance and lobby.

Deutsche Bank sued their insurance carriers to require them to pay out the claims, and in December 2004, Deutsche Bank settled with the insurance carriers and then sold the building to the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation.[3]

Deutsche Bank relocated most of its NYC Area units to 60 Wall Street - acquired earlier in 2001 and formerly occupied by J.P. Morgan Chase.

The Logo

In July 1972, eight notable graphic artists were commissioned to create a new logo for Deutsche Bank. This logo should be able to unmistakably represent the company. From a choice of several brand designs, Deutsche Bank decided upon a symbol created by the now deceased painter and graphic artist from Stuttgart, Anton Stankowski. The “slash in a square” as the construction was described.

The Logo fulfils all aspects of the quality criteria required for a good brand:

* With a simple yet striking form, the symbol has a high attention-provoking and recognition value.
* The logo supports the identity of Deutsche Bank: the “slash” stands for consistent growth and dynamic development, the square-shaped frame can be interpreted as a sign of security and a controlled environment. In summary, the logo square stands for consistent growth in a secured environment.
* It is striking and unmistakable as well as timeless and thus free of any fashionable accent.
* It can be applied almost without restrictions and can be implemented in all media.
* The logo can be clearly recognised when reduced in size and at great distances. The combination of the company name Deutsche Bank and the square-shaped company logo as a whole constitute since 1974 the Deutsche Bank brand.

Organization

Deutsche Bank is organized in three Group Divisions: Corporate and Investment Bank, Private Clients and Asset Management, and Corporate Investments.

Management Board & Group Executive Committee

Group Executive Committee (As of Sept.21,2006)
Management Board (The Vorstand)			Business Heads of Group Divisions
Name	Since	Position	Name	Since	Position
Josef Ackermann	1996	Chairman of the executive committee & GEC	Michael Cohrs	2002	Head of Global Banking
Hugo Bänziger	2006	Chief Risk Officer	Jürgen Fitschen	2002	Head of Regional Management		Anshu Jain	2003	Head of Global Markets
Anthony Di Iorio	2006	Chief Financial Officer	Rainer Neske	2003	Head of Private & Business Clients
Hermann-Josef Lamberti	1999	Chief Operating Officer	Kevin Parker	2002	Head of Asset Management
			Pierre de Weck	2002	Head of Private Wealth Management

Acquisitions

* Bankers Trust (Successfully Closed) 30 November 1998.[6]

* Berkshire Mortgage Finance October 22, 2004.[7]

* Chapel Funding, now DB Home Lending September 12 2006[8]

* MortgageIT Holdings January 3, 2007[9]

Notable current and former employees

* Hermann Josef Abs - Deutsche Bank chairman (1957-67)
* Sir John Craven - Financier in London
* Michael Dobson - Head of Schroders
* Alfred Herrhausen - Deutsche Bank chairman (1971-89)
* Edson Mitchell - Head of Global Markets (1953-2000)

Public service

• Masum Ahmed - Economist/Philanthropist
• Otto Hermann Kahn - Philanthropist

Awards

IFR, Review of the Year, December 2006

* Derivatives House of the Year
* Investment-Grade Corporate Bond
* House of the Year
* Covered Bond House of the Year

IFR Asia, Review of the Year, December 2006

* Bond House of the Year
* Derivatives House of the Year

Insurance Asset Manager, September 2006

* DeAM ranked No.1 third-party insurance asset manager

Euromoney, Awards for Excellence, July 2006

* Best Investment Grade Debt House
* Best Risk Management House
* Emerging Markets Best Debt House

EuroProperty/INREV, May 2006

* RREEF Ranked No.1 Global Real Estate Fund Manager by AuM

Trade Finance, Awards for Excellence, June 2006

* Best Trade Documentation Bank
* Best Forfaiting Institution

Euromoney, FX Poll, May 2006

* No.1 Provider of FX Services

Standard & Poor's Fund Awards, March 2006

* Best performing mutual fund company — Large 5 & 10 years: DWS/Germany
* Best performing mutual fund company — Large 10 years: DWS/Austria
* Best performing mutual fund company — Large 10 years: DWS/Switzerland