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Last year was a busy one in Asia for Emirates NBD. The Dubai-based full-service bank, which has branches in Singapore, China and India, and across the Middle East, was co-arranger on a November 2017, $740 million credit facility for Mercuria Energy, with the capital set aside by the Swiss energy and commodities group for use across its Asian operations. The oversubscribed deal included investor meetings in Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.

Egypt has been looking east in recent years in search of new trade partners, and one country in particular has caught its eye. China is an ideal investment ally. It needs energy, and Cairo’s ambitions include becoming a regional energy hub by shipping liquefied natural gas south and east through the Suez Canal.

When investors and companies mull the benefits of doing business in Asia, or of boosting their operations in a region that still drives the global economy, their default instinct might be to turn to the West’s big lenders. We know their names. An elite handful of financial institutions, boasting decades and sometimes centuries of experience in the biggest markets. They are fully tuned into Asia, and usually well represented across the Middle East.

When lenders target the Chinese market, usually their first port of call is either Beijing or Shanghai. Not so Banque Misr, whose chairman Mohamed El-Etreby joined in 2011 after nearly 30 years in the commercial banking sector.

Amman-based Arab Bank opened its first representative office in Beijing in 1985, long before most lenders had even considered committing time and resources to the People’s Republic of China, and followed up with a second rep office in Shanghai in 1996. In the years that followed, Arab Bank steadily built up its regional presence. Chief executive Nemeh Sabbagh oversaw the process as Arab Bank extended its reach to South Korea and Singapore, enabling it to keep in touch with Asian companies and with Jordanian firms operating across the region.

Kuwait Finance House is strong to the core; for 2018, third-quarter net profit rose 22.7% year on year, while net financing income jumped 25.4% in the same period. Its Islamic banking credentials make it a worthy winner of this award.

Asiamoney’s Leaders for Women survey recognises the banks that have done the most to encourage women in the workplace across Asia’s financial markets

In 2020, China International Capital Corp reported an impressive 40% year-on-year jump in investment banking revenues to Rmb5.96 billion ($921 million).

In 2020, China International Capital Corp reported an impressive 40% year-on-year jump in investment banking revenues to Rmb5.96 billion ($921 million).