Asiamoney Best Bank Awards

Few banks in Central Asia have managed to build as strong and progressive a franchise in such a short period as Asia Alliance Bank. Since 2009, it has moved up the ranks based on its market share for small and medium-sized enterprises. Today, SMEs account for more than 67% of the bank’s loan portfolio.

The MUFG Group has increasingly put corporate social responsibility at the core of its operations, making it Asiamoney’s best bank for CSR in 2021.

The Mizuho group had a difficult 2021. The smallest of the three Japanese megabanks, the firm was plagued by major IT problems. In February 2021, its ATMs swallowed more than 5,000 cash cards and passbooks. A month later, 300 foreign currency money transfers were delayed because of a hardware failure. A few IT glitches later, Mizuho Financial Group’s chief executive Tatsufumi Sakai said he would step down in April 2022.

Rakuten Bank has a well-defined goal: to make the world a more convenient place by offering high-quality online financial services to clients. In Asiamoney’s latest awards period, it made great progress in meeting its objective, making it the pick for best digital bank in Japan for 2021.

Morgan Stanley’s investment banking credentials in the US and in Asia are rock solid. The same goes for its franchise in Japan, where it has a unique joint venture with MUFG.

For an example of a joint venture partnership that has been effective, resilient and performed well, one need only look at the tie-up between US bank Morgan Stanley and Japan’s MUFG.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), the parent of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC), is regarded by many observers as the best run of the three mega-banking groups in Japan. In the past year, it proved its worth time and again, making SMBC Asiamoney’s choice for best domestic bank in Japan for 2021.

The Development Bank of Kazakhstan’s state ownership means it is leading the way in corporate social responsibility in the country, and helping the government to reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2060.