For the past 15 years, global investors’ default positioning was to hold U.S. Dollars as the most obvious choice of non-domestic currencies (and maybe most obvious overall choice) and when investing outside their own equity markets, to look first to the U.S.
Non-US banks in developed markets (“EAFE banks”) have quietly emerged as the top-outperforming segments in global equity markets over the past three years (through Q1 2025). This paper explores the fundamental development of EAFE banks over the past decade, dissecting by European and Japanese entities.