MIDDLE EAST |
Best Bank: Arab Bank |
Best Investment Bank: JPMorgan |
Best Debt House: HSBC |
Best Equity House: Morgan Stanley |
Best M&A House: Credit Suisse |
Best at Project Finance: Al Rajhi Bank |
Best at Cash Management: HSBC |
Best at Risk Management: Deutsche Bank |
Banks in the Middle East know how to cope with a crisis: Lebanese banks’ profit as the country teeters on civil war; Iranian institutions deftly avoid US financial sanctions.
The ability of National Bank of Kuwait to operate during the Gulf war of 1990-91 is another case in point. And in 2008, across the NBK group, as some of the biggest Middle Eastern financial institutions teetered on bankruptcy, almost $1 billion in profit was made.
No bank in the region, though, has more experience of living through crises than Arab Bank.