Photographs: Courtesy, KfW.
The safest banks are those that have shown their strength in times of turbulence.
Counterparty risk is of prime importance to global CFOs and financial executive as economic uncertainty continues to trouble global markets," says Global Finance publisher Joseph D. Giarraputo.
The ranking was created by Global Finance magazine through an evaluation of long-term credit ratings - from Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings -and total assets of the 500 largest banks worldwide.
KfW (Rank 1)
Germany
KfW banking group is a German government-owned development bank, based in Frankfurt.
Its name originally comes from Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau, meaning Reconstruction Credit Institute. It was formed in 1948 after World War II as part of the Marshall Plan.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: BNG website.
Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten (Rank 2)
The Netherlands
The Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten (BNG) is a Dutch bank and local government funding agency, specialising in providing finance for publicly owned organisations.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Courtesy, Zurcher Kantonalbank.
Zurcher Kantonalbank (Rank 3)
Switzerland
Zurich Cantonal Bank (ZKB) is the largest cantonal bank and fourth largest bank in Switzerland.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Courtesy, Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank.
Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank (Rank 4)
Germany
Rentenbank, based in Frankfurt, is Germany's development agency for agribusiness.
Rentenbank provides refinancing to banks within the European Union involved in financing agriculture, related sectors thereof and rural areas.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Courtesy, L-Bank.
L-Bank (Rank 5)
Germany
Landeskreditbank Baden-Wurttemberg Forderbank, also known as L-Bank, it is committed to ensuring a high-performing economy, a high quality of life and a secure future.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Courtesy, Nederlandse Waterschapsbank.
Nederlandse Waterschapsbank (Rank 6)
The Netherlands
Nederlandse Waterschapsbank is a leading financial services provider for the public sector.
The bank arranges short-term and long-term loans for municipal authorities, provinces, public housing, healthcare, educational institutions and activities in the field of water and the environment.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Courtesy, Caisse des Depots et Consignations.
Caisse des Depots et Consignations (Rank 7)
France
The Caisse des Depots et Consignations (CDC) is a French financial organisation created in 1816, and part of the government institutions under the control of the Parliament.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Courtesy, NRW.Bank.
NRW.Bank (Rank 8)
Germany
Established in 1969, NRW.BANK is a major German commercial and investment bank. Its owners (guarantors) are the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Regional Associations of the Rhineland and Westphalia-Lippe, and the Savings Banks and Giro Associations of the Rhineland and Westphalia-Lippe.
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World's 30 safest banks
Banque et Caisse d'Epargne de l'Etat (Rank 9)
Luxembourg
Established by the Luxembourg government in 1856 as a savings bank, it became a full service bank on 25 October 1944.
It offers all the services of a commercial bank, including retail banking and private banking.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Reuters.
Rabobank (Rank 10)
The Netherlands
Rabobank Group is a full-range financial services provider that offers services on cooperative principles. The Rabobank Group has around 59,700 employees, who serve about 10 million customers in 44 countries.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Courtesy, TD Bank Group.
TD Bank Group (Rank 11)
Canada
The Toronto-Dominion Bank is the second-largest bank in Canada by market capitalization and assets. It is also the sixth largest bank branch network in North America.
Commonly known as TD, the bank was created in 1955 through the merger of the Bank of Toronto and the Dominion Bank.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Reuters.
DBS Bank (Rank 12)
Singapore
DBS Bank was earlier known as The Development Bank of Singapore.
The bank was set up by Government of Singapore in June 1968 to take over the industrial financing activities from the Economic Development Board. DBS Bank is the largest bank in South East Asia by assets and among the larger banks in Asia.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Courtesy, OCBC.
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (Rank 13)
Singapore
The Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation is one of Singapore's leading local banks, with group assets of more than 224 billion SGD.
It has one of the highest bank credit ratings in the region. The bank has more than 530 branches with representative offices in 15 countries and territories.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Terence Ong/Wikimedia Commons.
United Overseas Bank (Rank 14)
Singapore
United Overseas Bank (UOB) has charted steady growth in the last 76 years to establish itself as a leading bank in Singapore.
Today, the UOB Group has a network of more than 500 offices spanning 19 countries and territories in Asia Pacific, Western Europe and North America.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Mark Blinch/Reuters.
Royal Bank of Canada (Rank 15)
Canada
The Royal Bank of Canada is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalisation.
The bank serves 17 million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The bank was founded in 1864 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Reuters.
National Australia Bank (Rank 16)
Australia
National Australia Bank is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia in terms of market capitalisation and customers.
NAB is ranked 17th largest bank in the world measured by market capitalisation. It operates across 10 countries serving 8.3 million consumer and business banking customers.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Will Burgess/Reuters.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Rank 17)
Australia
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Fiji, Asia, USA and the United Kingdom.
Founded in 1911 by the Australian government, the Commonwealth Bank is one of the 'big four' Australian banks.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Nigel Marple/Reuters.
Westpac (Rank 18)
Australia
Westpac registered as Westpac Banking Corporation is a multinational financial services, one of the Australian 'big four' banks and the second-largest bank in New Zealand.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Reuters.
ANZ Group (Rank 19)
Australia
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, commonly called ANZ, is the third largest bank by market capitalization in Australia.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Jessica Gow/Reuters.
Nordea (Rank 20)
Sweden
Nordea Bank AB, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a Nordic-based financial services group operating in Northern Europe.
The bank is the result of the successive mergers and acquisitions of the Swedish, Finnish, Danish and Norwegian banks of Nordbanken, Merita Bank, Unibank and Kreditkassen (Christiania Bank) that took place between 1997 and 2000.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Reuters.
Bank of Nova Scotia (Rank 21)
Canada
The Bank of Nova Scotia, commonly known as Scotiabank, is the third largest bank in Canada by deposits and market capitalisation. It serves some 19 million customers in more than 55 countries around the world.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Ints Kalnins/Reuters.
Svenska Handelsbanken (Rank 22)
Sweden
Svenska Handelsbanken AB is a Swedish bank covering the entire banking spectrum of traditional corporate transactions, investment banking and trading as well as consumer banking including life insurance.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Courtesy, Caisse centrale Desjardins.
Caisse centrale Desjardins (Rank 23)
Canada
The Caisse centrale is a cooperative that belongs to the caisses through the Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec.
It offers financial services to the Group, to governments and to medium and large sized business.
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World's 30 safest banks
Kiwibank (Rank 24)
New Zealand
Kiwibank Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the state-owned enterprise New Zealand Post Limited.
Through Kiwibank, New Zealand Post provides banking services through its PostShops (post offices) and joint venture Books & More and Papermate outlets throughout New Zealand.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Reuters.
HSBC (Rank 25)
United Kingdom
HSBC Holdings is a multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.
As of 2012, it was the world's largest bank in terms of assets and sixth-largest public company, according to Forbes magazine.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Reuters.
China Development Bank (Rank 26)
China
The China Development Bank was established in March 1994 to provide development oriented finance for government projects of national priority.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Reuters.
Bank of Montreal (Rank 27)
Canada
The Bank of Montreal or BMO Financial Group, is one of the Big Five banks in Canada. On June 23, 1817, John Richardson and eight merchants signed the Articles of Association to establish the Bank of Montreal in a rented house in Montreal, Quebec.
The bank officially opened its doors for business on November 3, 1817, making it Canada's oldest bank.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Reuters.
CIBC (Rank 28)
Canada
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, CIBC, is one of Canada's chartered banks, fifth largest by deposits.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Brendan McDermid/Reuters.
BNY Mellon (Rank 29)
United States
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, referred to as BNY Mellon, is an American multinational banking and financial services corporation formed on July 1, 2007 as result of the merger of The Bank of New York and Mellon Financial Corporation.
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World's 30 safest banks
Photographs: Jason Lee/Reuters.
Agricultural Development Bank of China (Rank 30)
China
The Agricultural Development Bank of China is responsible for funding projects related to China's economic growth.
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