Wells Fargo has become the largest Western bank when measured by its stock market value after it leapfrogged rivals HSBC and JP Morgan last year in what was a tumultuous period for financial institutions.

The San Francisco-based bank's market capitalisation stood at $145.34bn on the last day of trading in 2011, according to Financial News analysis of Bloomberg data of the world's 50 largest banks. This was down from its $162.66bn market capitalisation a year ago. However, it was still enough to help Wells Fargo become the third largest bank in the world - and the largest outside of China.