CANBERRA (Reuters) – Canada has the world’s soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as financial crisis and bank failures shake world markets.\u00a0\u00a0 But Britain, which once ranked in the top five, has slipped to 44th place behind El Salvador and Peru, after a 50 billion pound ($86.5 billion) pledge this week by the government to bolster bank balance sheets.
\nThe United States, where some of Wall Street’s biggest financial names have collapsed in recent weeks, rated only 40, just behind Germany at 39, and smaller states such as Barbados, Estonia and even Namibia, in southern Africa.
\nThe World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report based its findings on opinions of executives, and handed banks a score between 1.0 (insolvent and possibly requiring a government bailout) and 7.0 (healthy,
\nwith sound balance sheets).\u00a0 Canadian banks received 6.8, just ahead of Sweden (6.7), Luxembourg (6.7), Australia (6.7) and Denmark (6.7).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 UK banks collectively scored 6.0, narrowly behind the United States, Germany and Botswana, all with 6.1. France, in 19th place, scored 6.5 for soundness, while Switzerland’s banking system scored the same in 16th place, as did Singapore (13th).
\nThe ranking index was released as central banks in Europe, the United States, China, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland slashed interest rates in a bid to end to panic selling on markets and restore trust in the shaken
\nbanking system.\u00a0 The Netherlands (6.7), Belgium (6.6), New Zealand (6.6), Malta (6.6) rounded out the WEF’s banking top 10 with Ireland, whose government unilaterally pledged last week to guarantee personal and corporate deposits at its six major banks.
\nRANKINGS
\n1. Canada
\n2. Sweden
\n3. Luxembourg
\n4. Australia
\n5. Denmark
\n6. Netherlands
\n7. Belgium
\n8. New Zealand
\n9. Ireland
\n10. Malta
\n11. Hong Kong
\n12. Finland
\n13. Singapore
\n14. Norway
\n15. South Africa
\n16. Switzerland
\n17. Namibia
\n18. Chile
\n19. France
\n20. Spain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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