What Companies Are in the Financial Services Sector?

When people hear financial services sector, they often picture Wall Street traders and investment bankers. But the sector is far more diverse and foundational to the economy than stock trading alone.

The financial services industry includes a wide range of businesses from global banks and credit card companies to payment processors and online lenders. Together, these companies facilitate banking, credit, insurance, investment management, real estate services, and more.

Financial services companies are considered to be one of the most important parts of the economy in many different countries. Their profits make up a large portion of the gross domestic product (GDP) each year.

This article looks at some big names in the financial services sector.

Types of Financial Services Companies

The financial services sector includes:

• Investment banking firms
• Money managers
• Brokerage houses
• Banks
• Lenders
• Insurance companies
• Tax and accounting firms
• Credit card companies
• Payment processing companies
• Real estate companies
• Fintech companies

Financial services firms serve retail and commercial consumers alike. Companies such as Apple and Amazon can be considered to offer financial services, with the Apple Card and Amazon Pay.

Major Names in Financial Services

Berkshire Hathaway

• Founded: 1839 (as Valley Falls Company)
• Headquarters: Omaha, Nebraska
• Chief Executive Officer: Warren Buffett
• Market Capitalization (as of June 2025): $1.048 Trillion

Many people have heard of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A), the company headed by Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest individuals. The company’s stock is one of the most expensive in the world and trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Berkshire Hathaway was founded in 1839 as the Valley Falls Company in Rhode Island and was originally a textile manufacturing company. Buffett’s involvement began in 1962 when he started buying shares in the company before assuming full control a few years later.

Berkshire Hathaway has an established record of financial success with companies that it has acquired over the years. The multinational conglomerate owns insurance companies GEICO, National Indemnity, and General Re. Its also expanded its holdings to include companies involved in real estate, transportation, the furniture industry, and several jewelry companies—notably Helzberg Diamonds.

American Express

• Founded: 1850
• Headquarters: New York, New York
• Chief Executive Officer: Stephen Squeri
• Market Capitalization (as of June 2025): $223.47 billion

American Express (AXP) is one of the oldest financial firms in America, dating back to 1850. Originally, it offered freight forwarding services. Subsequently, it began providing travel services. It became one of the first companies in the world to offer charge cards and is commonly recognized by its signature gladiator logo adopted in 1958. Today, American Express, or Amex as it’s more commonly known, is a Fortune 100 company and a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA).

American Express continues to prosper despite competition from major rivals Visa and MasterCard, which have more aggressive credit card marketing strategies. The company has focused its attention on its credit card offerings, creating a number of co-branded cards with hotels. It provides other travel services such as traveler’s checks and has ventured into the prepaid card business. The elite status of American Express is demonstrated by its ability to offer a premium Centurion card that can be had for a hefty $10,000 initial fee and a $5,000 annual fee.

Wells Fargo

• Founded: 1852
• Headquarters: San Francisco, California
• Chief Executive Officer: Charles Scharf
• Market Capitalization (as of June 2025): $260.72 billion

Wells Fargo (WFC) is a global bank and financial services company with retail and commercial banking locations across the U.S. It also has a presence in Hong Kong, London, Singapore, and Tokyo. The company is one of the largest banks by market capitalization in the United States and is among the largest 100 corporations in the United States.

Wells Fargo has the distinction of holding the first-ever bank charter issued in the U.S. The company acquired Wachovia Bank in 2008, winning out over one of its major competitors, Citigroup (C).

Despite its success and position within the sector, the company has had its fair share of scandals. One of the most notable involved branches opening 1.5 million checking, savings, and credit card accounts without the consent of customers. This was widely reported in 2016 and, as a result, Wells Fargo was slapped with $185 million in fines.

Charles Schwab

• Founded: 1971
• Headquarters: Westlake, Texas
• Chief Executive Officer: Walter Bettinger
• Market Capitalization (as of June 2025: $165.78 billion

In 1975, Chuck Schwab (SCHW) helped launch the revolution in discounted brokerage commissions. So welcome was this change by individual investors that, within a decade, his company opened approximately 100 branches, began offering 24-hour quotes and extended customer service hours, and even started researching what would become online services. Schwab became known as America’s Largest Discount Broker.

Bank of America bought Charles Schwab in 1983. Chuck Schwab engineered a buy back in 1987 and then took the company public. Schwab started offering financial services for independent financial advisors as well as financial products such as the Schwab 1000 Fund®, the No-Fee IRA, and Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource® service. Schwab went live with web trading in 1996.

As of June 2025, Charles Schwab has $10.4 trillion in client assets, 37.4 million brokerage accounts (and averages 7.18 million daily trades), 2.1 million banking accounts, and serves more than 15,000 independent advisor firms. It employs 32,100.

PayPal

• Founded: 1998
• Headquarters: San Jose, California
• Chief Executive Officer: Dan Schulman
• Market Capitalization (as of June 2025): $72.27 billion

PayPal (PYPL) is one of the first fintech companies. It remains a groundbreaking member of the vanguard of the digital payment transformation. Founded in 1998, its strictly online platform lets individuals and businesses make secure financial transactions through its payment portal. It has 434 million active consumer and merchant accounts and enabled 26 billion payment transactions as of June 2025.

PayPal has struck many strategic partnerships with important financial services companies, including Visa, Bank of America, Banorte, Barclays, Citi, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, ShinhanCard, Wells Fargo, American Express, Discover, Mastercard, FIS, Paymentus and Synchrony.

Goldman Sachs

• Founded: 1869
• Headquarters: New York, New York
• Chief Executive Officer: David Solomon
• Market Capitalization (as of August 2022): $217.16 billion

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (GS) is a global financial institution. With a goal to support sustainable economic growth and financial opportunity, it offers financial services related to investment banking, securities, investment management, and consumer banking. Its clientele is a large and diversified group that includes individuals, corporations, other financial institutions, and governments.

Goldman Sachs delivers advice and services that assist organizations with mergers and acquisitions, financing, and other transactions. Its investment research offers choice insights and analysis for clients in the equity, fixed income, currency, and commodities markets. In addition, it provides investment management solutions for wealth building that involves all major asset classes.

Goldman Sachs partnered with Apple to issue the Apple Card. The firm, along with the Apple Card, was ranked best in customer satisfaction by the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study.

Rocket Mortgage

• Founded: 1985
• Headquarters: Detroit, Michigan
• Chief Executive Officer: Jay Farner
• Market Capitalization (as of August 2022): $28.17 billion (Market capitalization for Rocket Companies, of which Rocket Mortgage is the flagship business.)

Rocket Mortgage (RKT) is the self-proclaimed biggest mortgage lender in the U.S. Formerly known as Quicken Loans, it changed its name to Rocket Mortgage in 2021 to reflect its focus on helping people obtain mortgages more easily with a digital platform and innovative technology.

Rocket Mortgage introduced online mortgage lending. It offers an online application process, personalized closing time and location, 24/7 loan tracking, and award-winning customer service. In 2017, it became the largest residential mortgage lender in the U.S., beating out 30,000 others for the top spot.

The Bottom Line

The financial services industry plays a crucial role in supporting healthy economies in many countries. The sector includes a range of companies that provide many kinds of financial services to both individuals and businesses.

Facilitating the flow of capital across the globe, the financial services sector is an essential part of everyday life in our modern, interconnected world.