Best bank - HSBC
Best equity house - Goldman Sachs
Best debt house - HSBC
Best M&A house - Morgan Stanley
HSBC is Hong Kong's top bank. It dominates from consumer banking to commercial banking through to investment banking. And over the past year it has continued to grow in many of these areas.
HSBC's commercial banking business also grew, with pre-tax profits up 18%. Investment funds sales increased by more than 200% to HK$4 billion and commercial insurance sales climbed 100% to HK$9 billion. HSBC's payments and cash management services in the territory continue to dominate.
Income from its credit card business rose 15% to HK$3.1 billion (US$397 million). Its credit card charge-off at the end of 2002 was just 10.2%, which is 3% lower than the industry average. It is the leading retirements fund provider, with US$33 billion under management. It is also the largest Mandatory Provident Funds provider, with almost a million accounts.
It was a quiet year in Hong Kong for listings but Goldman Sachs takes the award for best equity house because of its prominence in the few deals of note. It was involved in the two most important, which made it the number one bookrunner in the market by a wide margin.