Asiamoney Best Bank Awards

In the coronavirus era, every financial institution is suddenly rushing to grow and solidify their digital footprint. But 30-year-old Hamkorbank appears to be learning new tricks faster than many of its peers.

This new-ish entrant on the scene is already turning heads. It was only in May 2019 that Tenge, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank JSC, won a licence from the Central Bank of Uzbekistan. In less than a year, it was fully capitalized and running five branches in three cities.

SQB, as state-owned Sanoat Qurilish Bank is better known, is coming up to its centenary. Established in 1922, it has, over time, become a premier player in the whole gamut of banking in Uzbekistan: state, corporate and retail lending; deposit-taking; cash-handling; international transfers; letters of credit; and foreign-exchange operations.

HDFC Bank’s transformation of its micro, small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) business over the past few years makes it a worthy winner of this award.

Axis Bank’s big investment in its digital platform, and the way that has paid off, makes it Asiamoney’s best digital bank in India for the second year in a row.

DBS Bank’s long-term commitment to India – one of its six core markets, including its home base in Singapore – has not wavered since it first set up shop in the country in 1994. On the contrary, it has only strengthened in recent years, with the firm converting its India operations into a wholly owned subsidiary in March 2019.

India’s biggest banks all deserve plaudits for steering their firms in the right direction in 2020, despite facing an unprecedented global health crisis.