JPMorgan has been named the World’s Best Bank for 2020 by Euromoney magazine. It was not the only bank that came into the Covid-19 crisis with a strong balance sheet, but it has kept financing large corporates and small businesses alike, while taking big reserves. Deposits have flooded in, technology investments have proved their worth and the bank is winning more business from mid-cap clients inside and outside the US – all while it copes with the temporary absence of its legendary chief executive.
“No bank will be better placed to cope with whatever unfolds from here than JPMorgan,” Euromoney says. “It is strongly capitalized, has deep liquidity reserves, unrivalled management and has shown an ability to go the extra mile for both small and large businesses through the crisis.”
Goldman Sachs wins the award for the World’s Best Investment Bank in 2020. It has – so far – come through the coronavirus crisis with its advisory and capital markets franchises having proved their worth yet again; and with a sales and trading business that looks reinvigorated, and not through luck but rather judgement.
"Key to achieving that is an uncompromising focus on clients in every business line in investment banking and global markets and approaching each relationship from the perspective of the whole firm,” Euromoney explains. “Incentive structures have been overhauled. Individuals’ performance is explicitly measured on the extent to which they contribute to the franchise, not just to their own product.”
This year, Euromoney recognises two banks at the global level for their leadership in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Credit Suisse receives an Excellence in Leadership award for its role in initiating the Swiss small and medium-sized enterprise support scheme, which was then developed with the government, central bank and other lenders, and emulated in many other countries. “I am very proud of Credit Suisse’s role in this programme, which was up and running within three weeks of that very first conversation here,” bank CEO Thomas Gottstein tells Euromoney.
HSBC is also recognised with an Excellence in Leadership award for its efforts to help customers deal with the challenges they faced across the globe. New group chief executive Noel Quinn had announced a big cost-cutting programme just before Covid hit, but was smart enough to pause it and encourage local staff around the world, even in locations where the redundancies were set to fall, to back their customers with quick loan decisions. “I’m very fortunate to have inherited a culture where people try to do the right thing for clients and go the extra mile,” he tells us. “That is in HSBC’s DNA.”
Euromoney’s Banker of the Year for 2020 is Bank of America’s chairman and chief executive, Brian Moynihan. As crisis after crisis has materialized this year, Moynihan has been out front showing how the financial industry can and should respond. “The good news is that the financial support of our industry, central banks and their fiscal stimulus has worked,” he explains.
Another individual recognised this year is Aditya Puri, outgoing managing director of India’s HDFC Bank, who receives a Lifetime Achievement award. He has achieved prudent risk management while routinely notching up 20% annual profit growth. “To think that life is going to be a bed of roses is stupid,” he tells Euromoney. “It’s going to have ups and downs. There are a few things you can fix and a few things you can’t.”
Other recipients of multiple global awards include: Citi, which wins awards for Best Bank for Financing and Best Investment Bank in the Emerging Markets; Morgan Stanley, which wins global awards for Advisory and FI; BNP Paribas, which wins for Corporates and Financial Inclusion; and Santander, which is the World’s Best Bank for SMEs and for Diversity and Inclusion. Barclays was named the World’s Best Bank for Markets and Ping An is the Best Digital Bank. HSBC also wins in the Sustainable Finance and Transaction Services categories and JPMorgan is also the Best Bank for Public-Sector Clients.
The award for the World’s Best Bank Transformation has been given to Deutsche Bank this year. The bank is only part way through a plan designed to run through to the end of 2022 but Euromoney wants to recognise the progress that has been made so far. “This is very different to the days when we mostly lived in the present and mainly had an awareness for the opportunities in the current markets,” says Fabrizio Campelli, the bank’s chief transformation officer. “This is a bank that must change, but it is already a different bank, and that’s the thing that encourages me so much for the future.”
About the Awards for Excellence
Euromoney's Awards for Excellence are the awards that matter to the banks and bankers who matter. They were established in 1992 and were the first of their kind in the global banking industry. This year, Euromoney received almost 1,000 submissions from banks in an awards programme that covers 23 global awards, more than 50 regional awards, and best bank awards in close to 100 countries. We also acknowledged an extraordinarily challenging year for the industry with a series of awards recognising Excellence in Leadership, globally and regionally.
To access the results, contact Austin Ou Yang at +44 (0) 20 7779 8531 or austin.ouyang@euromoneyplc.com, or subscribe online.