BEST BANK
Citigroup
BEST DEBT HOUSE
Citigroup
BEST EQUITY HOUSE
BBVA
BEST M&A HOUSE
Goldman Sachs
One number says it all: $1.7 billion, the net earnings from Citigroup in Mexico. Citigroup, and its Mexican subsidiary Banamex, is not the biggest bank in the country: that honour goes to BBVA's Bancomer (although Banamex is rapidly catching up). But it is easily the most profitable: Bancomer's earnings were just 65% of Citigroup's, at $1.1 billion, and Santander Serfín's came in a distant third.
Citigroup handily wins the award for best debt house in Mexico, too, with a long series of enormous local bond issues from such borrowers as Pemex, GMAC Financiera and the Inter-American Development Bank – all of which won borrower's awards last month. Citi easily tops the bond league table, with 15 issues to second-placed CSFB's seven, and has total deal volume 44% greater than its Swiss rival. And in syndicated loans, Citi is untouchable, with its $3.7 billion in deals trouncing BBVA's $2.3 billion. Citi's $5.8 billion loan to Cemex alone would give it good standing to win the award: the acquisition-finance deal came larger and tighter than anybody expected.