# Headquarter buildings of banks



## xlchris (Jun 23, 2006)

Post pictures of your countries HQ of banks;

ING, Amsterdam;


















RaboBank, Utrecht;
(old)









(new)


















ABN Amro, Amsterdam;


















Show your countries HQ;


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

When this building was built in Hong Kong, it was the global HQ for *HSBC*.










Since then, the HQ moved to London following the acquisition of Midland Bank in the 1990s. Here is the current global HQ :


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## _00_deathscar (Mar 16, 2005)

The gorgeous Bank of China, Hong Kong:
















































Unfortunately, the Bank of China Hong Kong does not make an appearance in this pic. Sorry (not really) to disappoint you


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

That's Bank of China's Hong Kong branch. The parent Bank of China is headquartered in Beijing but bears a resemblance to the HK design.


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## LLoydGeorge (Jan 14, 2006)

The original HQ of what is now Citibank, which is located at 55 Wall Street, and dates from 1833.










Bear Stearns









Smith Barney









Citicorp

















Lehman Brothers (Current HQ. However, the plan to construct a new tower in Manhattan)









Goldman Sachs

















Morgan Stanley's Current HQ (Company plans for new HQ building on West Side of Manhattan)

















Merrill Lynch (Current HQ -- Company plans a new tower)









Bank of America (Investment Banking Division)









Bank of New York


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## DiggerD21 (Apr 22, 2004)

Commerzbank HQ, Frankfurt (2 skyscrapers, can't find pics of the second one though)









Deutsche Bank HQ, Frankfurt









Dresdner Bank HQ, Frankfurt (2 skyscrapers)


















DZ Bank, Frankfurt (2 skyscrapers)


















Eurotower, European Central Bank, Frankfurt









Maintower, Frankfurt, hosts the HQ of the Helaba (Landesbank of the state Hesse)









Deka-Bank, Frankfurt (2 skyscrapers)

















(the right tower, the left tower belongs to Dresdner Bank)


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## DiggerD21 (Apr 22, 2004)

Hypo-Vereinsbank, Munich









Postbank, Bonn









Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart


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## _00_deathscar (Mar 16, 2005)

hkskyline said:


> That's Bank of China's Hong Kong branch. The parent Bank of China is headquartered in Beijing but bears a resemblance to the HK design.


Ah oops - I wiki-ed it when I was posting it, but misread the HQ bit.


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## trainrover (May 6, 2006)

Issuing towers? I don't get it........wait, but their elevators are the only components doing the talking, a-ha.


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## xlchris (Jun 23, 2006)

Frankfurt towers are all banks:lol: There are many!


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## Filip (Oct 10, 2003)

^^Same with Toronto - we have a financial skyline!


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## Jaeger (May 11, 2006)

London has over 500 Bank HQ's, and life is just too short. :lol:


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## LLoydGeorge (Jan 14, 2006)

10 biggest banks in the world in 2006 as per Euromoney:

1. Citigroup (NY)
2. JP Morgan Chase (NY)
3. Bank of America (Charlotte, NC; Investment Banking World HQ: NY)
4. HSBC (London)
5. Mitsubishi UJF Financial (Tokyo)
6. Group Credite Agricole (Paris)
7. Royal Bank of Scotland (Edinburgh)
8. BNP Paribas (Paris)
9. Santander (Santander, Spain)
10. Mizuhno Financial (Toko)


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## erbse (Nov 8, 2006)

The Headquarter of the *European Central Bank* in *Frankfurt*, UC. It's intended to finish it 'til 2009.


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## cityscapes (Feb 17, 2007)

Istanbul:








YapiKredi Bank Headquarters









AKBANK headquarters is the taller of the two buildings. 









Oyak Bank (The short one in the center)









Garanti Bank









HSBC









Turkiye Is Bankasi HQ complex.


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## Jaeger (May 11, 2006)

LLoydGeorge said:


> 10 biggest banks in the world in 2006 as per Euromoney:
> 
> 1. Citigroup (NY)
> 2. JP Morgan Chase (NY)
> ...


http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9498275

I would expect the Royal Bank of Scotland to move higher in the future, after it's recent takeover of ABN Amro including LaSalle Bank in the US.

HSBC are third, and this may only be temporary due to them being stung by American property prices and having lower
than forecast profits.


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## gappa (Mar 13, 2007)

ANZ world HQ Melbourne old:










(to the left)









And new (completion 2009):


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## Paddington (Mar 30, 2006)

Key Tower of Cleveland, the tallest skyscraper in Ohio at 950 feet:


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## ale26 (Sep 9, 2005)

Some Toronto's Big Five banks / Financial Institutions:

BMO Bank of Montreal Headquarters









Td Canada Trust

















Royal Bank of Canada (Largest Bank)








The glass on the building is coated with 24 Karat gold at a cost of $70 per glass and there is about 14,000 windows, do the math. It is also used as an insulator

Scotia Bank









CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce)









Manulife Financial (4th largest Insurance Company in the World)









Financial District


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

Filip said:


> ^^Same with Toronto - we have a financial skyline!


So true. The biggest non-financial services towers are puny in comparison to the bank towers. We wouldn't have much of a skyline without our banks. 

Ale26: Manulife isn't a bank, it is an insurance company. Regardless, the photo you posted isn't Manulife's headquarter building. It is a residential tower with their corporate name on the side of it. Manulife HQ is down the street, but also operates offices scattered all over the city.

The photo above is telling. Almost every tower in that central cluster is home to a financial services company. The ones that aren't bank towers, are insurance company towers, brokerages, trust companies, or wealth management firms. We have no auto, chemicals, food & beverage, media, oil & gas, utility, drug, aerospace, defence, or resource company scrapers. Just towers from one industry: financial services. We'd have a monster skyline if we had large firms from the other industries based here.


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## gappa (Mar 13, 2007)

Another of ANZ in Melbourne.


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## ale26 (Sep 9, 2005)

isaidso said:


> So true. The biggest non-financial services towers are puny in comparison to the bank towers. We wouldn't have much of a skyline without our banks.
> 
> Ale26: Manulife isn't a bank, it is an insurance company. Regardless, the photo you posted isn't Manulife's headquarter building. It is a residential tower with their corporate name on the side of it. Manulife HQ is down the street, but also operates offices scattered all over the city.
> 
> The photo above is telling. Almost every tower in that central cluster is home to a financial services company. The ones that aren't bank towers, are insurance company towers, brokerages, trust companies, or wealth management firms. We have no auto, chemicals, food & beverage, media, oil & gas, utility, drug, aerospace, defence, or resource company scrapers. Just towers from one industry: financial services. We'd have a monster skyline if we had large firms from the other industries based here.



Where the hell do you get your information from?

First of all if you would actually look at my post it says Toronto's Banks and FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS..meaning Manulife..No where did I say Manulife Financial was a bank.

And secondly, Toronto does have more then just financial services. Yes its most prominantly that, but we do have a large r&d, media, drug, and etc companies in the city.


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## LMCA1990 (Jun 18, 2005)

Dutch banks have some nice HQ's.


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## Skybean (Jun 16, 2004)

*Toronto*

Toronto Dominion Bank (TD)
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS)
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC)
Bank of Montreal (BMO)
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

ale26 said:


> Where the hell do you get your information from?
> 
> First of all if you would actually look at my post it says Toronto's Banks and FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS..meaning Manulife..No where did I say Manulife Financial was a bank.
> 
> And secondly, Toronto does have more then just financial services. Yes its most prominantly that, but we do have a large r&d, media, drug, and etc companies in the city.


To respond to your first question: I use a plethora of sources in accumulating my information. 4 years at Dalhousie Business School, and I've read the following publications for over 20 years: the Economist, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Fortune magazine, Business Week. I supplement that with text books, periodicals, the internet, etc. 

Next: I did not intend to insult you. I'm merely pointing out that the post question asked for bank HQ buildings. I may be anal, but I think it's important that thread topics don't go off on a tangent otherwise we start comparing apples and oranges. I did notice another forumer posting photos of brokerage houses such as Goldman Sachs. To someone who doesn't study the financial services industry, it gives a distorted impression if they don't realize that it's a brokerage and not a bank. 

Lastly, I didn't say that Toronto has no firms in other industries other than financial services. What I did say, is that they are miniscule in comparison to our financial services firms. We have 7 very large financial services firms based here. There is not a single industry that even comes close to matching this figure. If you would like to name some firms, I'd gladly discuss them with you. I am familiar with most of the top 300 or so firms in the nation ranked by sales, market cap, industry, etc. So come prepared.

Media? Drug? R&D? The last isn't even an industry. It is a function within a company within an industry....unless you are talking about the contract research industry which, in total, is the size of a flea by comparison. Rogers Communications is the only media company of any size that I can think of and they are smaller than the 7th largest financial institution based here. And where is there 800 ft HQ may I ask? Their presence ranks as barely a blip on our skyline. Biovail is the largest drug firm by far, and they aren't even a tenth the size of RBC. I could write about 50 pages to back up what I said, but I won't bore everyone with it.


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

This is Hartford's State House Square, the center of the city.

The big ugly skyscraper in the middle, our regional HQ for Bank of America.

I believe some of the floor space in the building is being converted into condos. I don't like the building because of the design and how ugly it looks when it rains, but the views from the top are incredible from what I hear.

A couple years ago, it was Fleet Bank, and even before that, Shawmut Bank. Hartford is more of an insurance city than a banking city when it comes to financial services, but we do have small offices for Wachovia and Citibank as well as People's Bank (state-only bank). 

One of the buildings next to it on the left is the major securities arm for People's Bank. You can't see it good from this view. I believe it is called the Gold building.

The building to the right, across the bridge, is one of ING's buildings.


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

xlchrisij said:


> Post pictures of your countries HQ of banks;
> 
> ING, Amsterdam;


Nice pics. Hartford is home to the US Headquarters of ING.

Possibly that was one of the reasons why our airport got a non-stop flight now to Amsterdam? :lol:


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## Singidunum (Jul 25, 2004)

National Bank of Serbia


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## ChinaboyUSA (May 10, 2005)

Here is what I found from:
http://sharingthelife.blogspot.com/2007/02/top-10-banks.html

Top ten banks in the world ranked by market capitalisation

1.Citigroup — 275 billion
2.ICBC — 250 billion
3.Bank of America — 230 billion
4.HSBC — 200 billion
5.JPMorgan Chase — 150 billion
6.Mitsubishi UFJ — 145 billion
7.Wells Fargo — 120 billion
8.UBS — 110 billion
9.Royal Bank of Scotland — 100 billion
9.China Construction Bank — 100 billion

1.Citigroup — 275 billion
Type Public (NYSE: C)
Founded New York City, USA (1812)
Headquarters New York City, USA
Key people:
Charles Prince, Chairman & CEO
Robert Rubin, Director and Chairman of Executive Committee
Sallie Krawcheck, CFO
Lee Kuan Yew, Special Adviser
Industry Money Center Banks
Products
Checking Accounts
Insurance
Stock Brokerage
Investment Bank
Asset-Based Lending
consumer finance
Revenue $120.318 billion USD (2006)
Net income $21.538 billion USD (2006)
Employees 299,000 (2006)
Slogan "Live Richly."

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is a major American financial services company based in New York City. According to Forbes Global 2000, it is the world's largest company and the most profitable financial services firm. Its formation was announced on April 7, 1998 through a merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group. It was the first US company to combine banking with insurance underwriting since the Great Depression. The company has just under 300,000 employees and over 200 million customer accounts in more than 100 countries, with total assets of nearly 1.9 trillion USD. It is a primary dealer in U.S. Treasury securities and its stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.


2.ICBC — 250 billion
Type Public company SEHK: 1398, SSE: 601398
Founded 1984
Headquarters Xicheng District, Beijing, China
Key people:
Jiang Jianqing, Chairman & Executive Director
Yang Kaisheng, Vice Chairman, Executive Director and President

Industry Finance
Products Financial services
Revenue RMB 137.858 billion (2005)
Operating income RMB 89.258 billion (2005)
Net income RMB 33.704 billion (2005)
Employees 361,623 (2005)

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) (Simplified Chinese: 中国工商银行; Traditional Chinese: 中國工商銀行; pinyin: Zhōngguó Gōngshāng Yínháng, more commonly just 工行 Gōngháng) is the largest of China's Big Four state-owned commercial banks, the other 3 banks being the Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, and China Construction Bank, and one of the world's top 10 banks by assets.

It was founded as a limited company on January 1, 1984. As of 30 June 2006, it had assets of RMB 7,055 billion (US$893 billion), 18,764 outlets including 106 overseas branches and 1,165 agents globally.It is currently the second largest bank in the world by market value, only after Citibank.


3. Bank of America — 230 billion
Type Public (NYSE: BAC TYO: 8648 )
Founded (as "Bank of Italy")
San Francisco, CA (1928)
(acquiring banks)
Charlotte, NC (1874)
Boston, MA (1784)
Headquarters Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Key people:
Ken Lewis, Chairman & CEO
Amy Brinkley, Global Risk Executive
Alvaro de Molina, CFO
Industry Money Center Banks
Products Banking
Net income $21.13 billion USD (2006)
Employees 176,638 (2005)
Slogan Higher Standards

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC TYO: 8648 ), is the largest commercial bank in the United States as far as deposits, and the third-largest company in the world according to the 2006 Forbes Global 2000.Bank of America is the largest American company (by market capitalization) that is not part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. On 17 July 2006, Bank of America reported second quarter 2006 net income of $5.48 billion, surpassing that of Citigroup for the first time.


4.HSBC — 200 billion
Type Public (LSE: HSBA, SEHK: 005, NYSE: HBC, Euronext: HSBC, BSX: 1077223879)
Founded Hong Kong (1865)
Founder Thomas Sutherland
Headquarters HSBC Tower, London, United Kingdom
Key people:
Stephen Green, Chairman
Michael Geoghegan, CEO
Industry Finance and Insurance
Products Financial Services
Revenue $61.7 billion USD (2005)
Employees 284,000
Subsidiaries HSBC Bank plc, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, HSBC Bank USA, HSBC Mexico, HSBC Bank Brasil, HSBC Finance
Slogan The world's local bank

HSBC Holdings plc (LSE: HSBA, SEHK: 005, NYSE: HBC, Euronext: HSBC, BSX: 1077223879) is one of the largest banking groups in the world, ranked the fifth-largest company and third-largest banking company in the world in Forbes Global 2000. Its head office is located in the HSBC Tower in London's Canary Wharf. The group is named after its founding member, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, a bank established by Thomas Sutherland, a Scot, to finance British trade in the Far East in 1865.
The bank is the largest corporation in the world in terms of assets(As of Jun 30, $1.74 trillion while Citigroup reported $1.63 trillion). It reports its results in United States dollars since 80% of its earnings originate from outside the United Kingdom. Nearly 22% of its earnings are from operations in Hong Kong, where it was headquartered until 1991. It is the largest bank in Hong Kong, and at the end of 2005 was the largest banking group in the world by Tier 1 capital
The HSBC logo, known as the Hexagon, is derived from the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation’s 19th century house flag, itself derived from the Scottish flag which is the angular cross that Saint Andrew (the patron saint of Scotland) was crucified upon.


5.JPMorgan Chase — 150 billion
Type Public (NYSE: JPM)
Founded 1799
Headquarters New York City, New York
Key people:
Jamie Dimon, Chairman, President & CEO
Industry Finance and Insurance
Products Financial Services
Revenue $61.437 billion USD +14% FY '05 to '06)
Operating income $37.584 billion USD (2005)
Net income $14.444 billion USD +70% FY '05 to '06)
Employees 168,847(2005)
Slogan Your Choice. Your Chase.

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM TYO: 8634 ) is one of the oldest financial services firms in the world. The company, headquartered in New York City, is a leader in investment banking, financial services, asset and wealth management and private equity. With assets of $1.3 trillion, JPMorgan Chase is currently the 3rd largest banking institution in the United States , behind Citigroup and Bank of America. The hedge fund unit of JPMorgan Chase is the second largest hedge fund in the United States with $28.8 billion in assets as of 2006. Formed in 2000 with the merger of the Chase Manhattan Corporation and J.P. Morgan & Co., the firm serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and governmental clients.



6.Mitsubishi UFJ — 145 billion
Type Public (TYO: 8316 ,NYSE: MTU)
Founded 2001
Headquarters Tokyo, Japan
Key people:
Nobuo Kuroyanagi, President
Industry Financial Services
Subsidiaries The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (株式会社三菱UFJフィナンシャル・グループ, Kabushiki-gaisha Mitsubishi UFJ Finansharu Gurūpu?) (TYO: 8306 NYSE: MTU ), or MUFG, is the world's largest bank with assets of around USD $1.7 trillion headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
The company was formed on October 1, 2005 with the merger of Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group (MTFG), formerly Japan's second-largest banking conglomerate, and Osaka-based UFJ Holdings, which was Japan's fourth-largest banking group.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. had been delisted in London Stock Exchanges.




7.Wells Fargo — 120 billion
Type Public (NYSE: WFC)
Founded New York, New York, USA (March 18, 1852)
Headquarters Corner of Montgomery and Market, San Francisco, California, USA
Key people:
Richard Kovacevich, Chairman and CEO
John Stumpf, President and COO
David Hoyt, head of Wholesale Banking Group
Robert Atkins, CFO
Michael Swanson, Chief Economist
Industry Finance and Insurance
Products Checking Accounts
Insurance Brokerage
Stock Brokerage
Asset Management
Asset-Based Lending
consumer finance
Revenue $40.527 billion USD (2005)
Operating income $15.158 billion USD (2005)
Net income $7.671 billion USD (2005)
Employees 153,500(2006)
Slogan "The Next Stage"

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is a financial services company in the United States with consumer finance subsidiaries doing business in Canada, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Caribbean.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California (its bank, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., is legally chartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota), Wells Fargo is a result of a merger between California-based Wells Fargo & Co. and Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation in 1998. The new company chose to keep the name Wells Fargo, to capitalize on the 150-year history of the nationally-recognized Wells Fargo name and its trademark stagecoach. After the merger, the company maintained its headquarters in San Francisco.
As of September 30, 2006, Wells Fargo has 6,165 retail branches, over 23 million customers, and 167,000 employees.



8.UBS — 110 billion
Type Public
Founded 1998 merger of the Union Bank of Switzerland and the Swiss Bank Corporation
Headquarters Basel & Zürich, Switzerland
Key people:
Peter A. Wuffli, CEO
Marcel Ospel, Chairman
Industry Finance
Products Financial Services
Revenue 39.896 billion Swiss francs (2005) (about $30 billion (US))
Employees 78,240 (2007)
Slogan You & Us.

UBS AG (NYSE: UBS; SWX:UBSN; TYO: 8657 ) is a financial services company, headquartered in Basel and Zürich, Switzerland. It also has a major presence in the New York metropolitan area with a large volume of offices located in Manhattan; Jersey City, New Jersey; Weehawken, New Jersey; and Stamford, Connecticut. The US Investment Banking headquarters is located in Stamford, Connecticut, while the Wealth Management division is headquartered in Weehawken, NJ. It is a private banking, investment banking, institutional investing, and securities firm. It is also a global asset manager and does retail and commercial banking in Switzerland. UBS has invested assets of 2.766 trillion Swiss francs (CHF), shareholders' equity of 47.850 billion CHF and market capitalization of 150.663 billion CHF. UBS AG is the world's largest wealth manager.


9.Royal Bank of Scotland — 100 billion
Type Public1
Founded 1727
Headquarters Edinburgh, Scotland
Industry Finance and Insurance
Products Financial Services
Employees 22,000
Parent Royal Bank of Scotland Group
Slogan Enjoy better banking with RBS

The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba[1]) is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, which together with NatWest, provides branch banking facilities in the UK. Royal Bank of Scotland has around 700 branches, mainly in Scotland though there are branches in many larger towns and cities throughout England and Wales.


9.China Construction Bank — 100 billion
Type Joint stock company
Founded 1954
Headquarters Beijing
Key people:
Guo Shuqing, Chairman
Chang Zhenming, CEO
Industry Finance and Insurance
Products Financial Services
Employees 260,000
Slogan CCB Build in modern life

The China Construction Bank (CCB) SEHK: 0939 (Simplified Chinese: 中国建设银行; Traditional Chinese: 中國建設銀行; pinyin: Zhōngguó Jiànshè Yínháng) is one of the 'big four' banks in the People's Republic of China.
CCB was founded on October 1, 1954 under the name of "People's Construction Bank of China" (中国人民建设银行; Zhōngguó Rénmín Jiànshè Yínháng), and later changed to "China Construction Bank" on March 26, 1996.
The chairman, Zhang Enzhao, resigned on March 16, 2005, citing "personal reasons". However, a lawsuit in the United States alleges that he received a bribe of one million dollars from Alltel Information Services, for securing a contract.
China Construction Bank Corporation was formed as a joint-stock commercial bank in September 2004 as a result of a separation procedure undertaken by their predecessor, China Construction Bank, under the PRC Company Law. Following the China Banking Regulatory Committee's approval on September 14, 2004, Jianyin and Huijin entered into a separation agreement, dated September 15, 2004, pursuant to which China Construction Bank was separated into their bank and Jianyin.


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## KGB (Sep 12, 2002)

> So true. The biggest non-financial services towers are puny in comparison to the bank towers. We wouldn't have much of a skyline without our banks.



Well, I suppose the most obvious skyline exception to that rule would be the CN Tower...representing the telecommunications and tourism cluster. And given the latest hotel projects under way, they will have a somewhat noticeable impact.

And the bank headquarters in the financial district tend to not be built or owned by the banks....that's as much a reflection of one of our other major industries....the real estate development companies, of which Toronto was at least not too long ago, headquarters to some of the largest in the world. 

With the most diversified economy on the continent, Toronto does have many sizeable industry clusters outside of financial services...but they tend to either have their facilities scattered or in more suburban locations. If for instance, the CBC headquarters lent itself to a skyscraper, rather than huge floorplates, it would be as tall as any of the bank towers ( 1.7 million sqft).






KGB


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## ale26 (Sep 9, 2005)

KGB said:


> Well, I suppose the most obvious skyline exception to that rule would be the CN Tower...representing the telecommunications and tourism cluster. And given the latest hotel projects under way, they will have a somewhat noticeable impact.
> 
> And the bank headquarters in the financial district tend to not be built or owned by the banks....that's as much a reflection of one of our other major industries....the real estate development companies, of which Toronto was at least not too long ago, headquarters to some of the largest in the world.
> 
> ...



Thank you...that's what I was getting at.:cheers:


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## Iemand (Aug 16, 2007)

Brussels: Dexia Headquarter building










At night:


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## SilesianSkyscraper (Aug 14, 2007)

ING Silesian Bank in Katowice:


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

ale26 said:


> Thank you...that's what I was getting at.:cheers:


Toronto's economy is very diversified, but it is not accurate to downplay the overwhelming domination of financial services in Toronto, especially in terms of our skyline.

It is true that many of the 'bank' towers house employees of other industries, but financial services dominate, followed by the professional services that support this industry. If you travel to other large cities, you will see the same prominence of financial services, but you will also see MAJOR head offices from other industries. There are few major head office operations from other industries in Toronto, because there are very few major global firms from other industries based here. Most of what exists are Canadian operations of global firms based elsewhere. These Canadian operations, are thus, never going to rival that of an industry that administers, from a Canadian HQ, global operations.

Any way you analyze the raw data, other industries in Toronto are vastly dwarfed by this one industry. Number of employees, head office counts, head office buildings that they commissioned, office space that they consume, weighting on the S&P/TSX. This last figure is truly astounding. Of the Toronto based S&P/TSX firms, one industry (financial services) is massively over represented in terms of market capitalization.

1. RBC: financial services $74.4 Billion
2. Manulife: financial services $62.3 Billion
3. Bank of Nova Scotia: financial services $52.6 Billion
4. TD Bank: financial services $49.6 Billion
5. Bank of Montreal: financial services $35.6 Billion
6. CIBC: financial services $35.8 Billion
7. Thomson: MEDIA $30.9 Billion
8. Sun Life: financial services $30.3 Billion
9. Barrick: METALS AND MINING $28.8 Billion
10. Rogers: TELECOMMUNICATIONS $26.0 Billion

These are Toronto's top 10 firms. Considering that there are 10-20 major industry groups, and 1 accounts for 7 of the top 10 positions is telling. #7 Thomson, I might add, isn't even run from Toronto. It is run from Connecticut. Market cap, is just one measure, but other measures paint a similar picture. 

Toronto does have a diversified economy with almost all industries represented, but to argue that any of them even come close to rivalling financial services is simply a monstrous exaggeration of the facts.

In your defence, there is a misconception of the relative weighting of our other industries and how they relate to things such as wealth, white collar employment, office towers/skyline, etc. in Toronto. Even the auto industry, arguably Ontario's most important, doesn't effect Toronto as much as financial services. The auto industry is more important to places like Oshawa, Windsor, Brampton, Alliston, and Cambridge. Even here, a disproportionate amount of white collar functions are not done here. They are done in the USA or Japan. The Canadian offices are much smaller than they should be because they are subsidiary operations with hardly any global mandates for product design, marketing, finance, etc. They mostly administer Canadian plants and the Canadian market only.


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

SilesianSkyscraper said:


> ING Silesian Bank in Katowice:


Nice to see our sister bank! :cheers:


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

TenRot: I know that Hartford is a major insurance centre, but are there alot of other financial services operations there also?


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

Hartford is mostly an insurance city, but we do have some regional offices for banks:

We have regional offices for People's bank, with their major securities and investments location, Bank of America has a few offices here too and in the suburbs, and so do Wachovia, Citigroup, and Sovereign Bank. 

Nothing too large, but they do have a presence. As Hartford is mostly a insurance and government city, more financial services are needed for the economy. We have been hit by insurance mergers, which take jobs away to other cities, too many times. A decade ago, Hartford was almost left for dead because of this. 

That said, I wish we could take advantage of our location and market ourselves as a back-office for Wall Street operations more. We could really benefit from that, like our friends in Greenwich, CT (NYC suburb) which has gained from the hedge fund industry.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

isaidso said:


> 1. RBC: financial services $74.4 Billion
> 2. Manulife: financial services $62.3 Billion
> 3. Bank of Nova Scotia: financial services $52.6 Billion
> 4. TD Bank: financial services $49.6 Billion
> ...


Isn't Manulife based in Waterloo, Ontario?


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## Filip (Oct 10, 2003)

hkskyline said:


> Isn't Manulife based in Waterloo, Ontario?


No.

In depth: Their Canadian operations are out of Waterloo (not significant), their global operations are out of Bloor street.


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## lokinyc (Sep 17, 2002)

I love the European Central Bank building UC in Frankfurt. Gorgeous. Frankfurt and Charlotte, NC are two cities whose skylines are dominated and defined by bank headquarters. Here is the HQ of Suntrust, the U.S.'s 7th largest bank, based in Atlanta, GA.

Also, ten largest U.S. banks bases on total assets as of today, Nov. 7, 2007.
United States' Largest Banks
(in millions of U.S. dollars)
Rank	Name (city, state)	Consolidated assets
1.	Bank of America Corp. (Charlotte, N.C.)	$1,082,243
2.	J. P. Morgan Chase & Company (Columbus, Ohio)	1,013,985
3.	Citigroup (New York, N.Y.) 706,497
4.	Wachovia Corp. (Charlotte, N.C.) 472,143
5.	Wells Fargo & Company (Sioux Falls, S.D.) 403,258
6.	U.S. BC (Cincinnati, Ohio) 208,867
7.	Suntrust Banks, Inc. (Atlanta, Ga.) 177,231
8.	HSBC North America Inc. (Wilmington, Del.) 150,679
9.	Keybank (Cleveland, Ohio) 88,961
10.	State Street Corp. (Boston, Mass.) 87,888

Suntrust Plaza, Atanta, one of my favorite bank HQs


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