Awards for Excellence 2016
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Finding examples of troubled banks is easy in Europe in 2016. Happily, there are other examples of banks whose management has succeeded in turning around their institutions, often putting bailed-out banks back on a more sustainable course.
All these banks have stories that are heartening for investors and clients: Lloyds in the UK (a turnaround Euromoney has previously recognized), Bankia in Spain, Bank of Cyprus, or Austria’s Bawag. The list could also include Allied Irish Banks, KBC, ING, Natixis, or even the older story of UBS.
However, in a year that saw its landmark partial return to private hands in the biggest European bank IPO since the financial crisis, the best bank transformation must be ABN Amro. This is an institution that has been to hell and back. It is about a third of its pre-crisis size, and whereas in its previous form it had operations across Europe, Latin America and the US, now 80% of ABN Amro’s revenues are in its Dutch home market.