Euromoney's Awards for Excellence continue to generate enormous interest and to be regarded as the industry leader in independent recognition. Each year as the vetting process gets under way, our editorial offices are besieged by bankers and their public relations teams lobbying for their institutions. The excitement continues long after the results are decided as banks rejoice over the awards they have won and fret over the ones they missed.
This year proved no exception and the expansion of the awards to include additional facets of the business and new countries only added to the clamour. HSBC Group unseated Citibank as the best bank although the latter institution came through with its usual crop of awards from around the globe, some 40 in total, including best foreign exchange bank, underwriter of assetbacked debt, best at transaction services - one of the new awards - as well as best bank in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
Most of the major investment banks fared well, with Merrill Lynch taking best global investment bank and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell most improved global investment bank. ABN Amro received a special award for best long-term strategy.