BEST BANK
UBS
BEST DEBT HOUSE
Deutsche Bank
BEST EQUITY HOUSE
UBS
BEST M&A HOUSE
Merrill Lynch
BEST AT RISK MANAGEMENT
JPMorgan
BEST AT CASH MANAGEMENT
ABN Amro
BEST AT INVESTOR SERVICES
JPMorgan
BEST SMALLER BANK
Banco Finantia
Retail banking in Europe is about to undergo dramatic change. Since the introduction of the euro, the market has been awaiting major cross-border consolidation. In the past 12 months this has started to materialize.
The largest cross-border retail banking acquisition to date involved Spain's Santander acquiring UK mortgage bank Abbey in the second half of 2004. The scale and success of this transaction is one of the reasons why Santander wins Euromoney's global best bank award for 2005. In a further big cross-border deal, and as this issue of Euromoney went to press, Italy's UniCredit looked all set to buy Germany's HVB. More such deals will surely follow.
Contenders
In the absence of true multi-market retail banks, contenders for the best bank in western Europe award have tended to come from the wholesale side of the business.