BEST BANK
Citigroup
BEST EQUITY HOUSE
Goldman Sachs
BEST DEBT HOUSE
Citigroup
BEST M&A HOUSE
Morgan Stanley
BEST AT TREASURY AND RISK MANAGMENT
HSBC
BEST CASH MANAGEMENT HOUSE
Citigroup
BEST AT INVESTOR SERVICES
JPMorgan
BEST PROJECT FINANCE HOUSE
ABN Amro
BEST SMALLER INVESTMENT BANK
Macquarie
Asia's best bank award is won by Citigroup for the sixth year in succession, and during the past 12 months it has moved further ahead of its only viable regional competitor, HSBC. The $3.2 billion acquisition of Korean bank Koram, completed in April, filled one obvious geographic gap in its Asian footprint; it also made HSBC's lack of a presence in Korea even more glaring. The only other key country where Citigroup has yet to play its hand fully is China, although with a 5% stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and an option to increase that significantly, the bank already seems well positioned.
Asia remains a critical strategic region for growth at Citigroup and is already the group's largest region outside the US, in terms of customers, revenues and earnings. The addition of a powerful retail and corporate banking franchise in Korea, one of Asia's largest economies, promises significant profitability across product groups if Citigroup can ever get them all to work at the same time.