Lines are being blurred as advisers get better at financing, and firms that used to lead through balance sheet up their game in advisory.

It is not often that banks are described as ‘phenomenal’, but that is what some of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s small and medium-sized enterprise clients call it, making it a fitting repeat winner of Euromoney’s award for North America’s best bank for SMEs. Marty Arenson, president of Global Sourcing Connection, a promotional products supplier, switched to the bank in 2008 after previous experiences he says he found horrific in comparison.

Understanding the client’s business and needs is essential for banks in transaction services. But Western Europe’s best bank for transaction services, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, demonstrates a profound knowledge of the changing role of the corporate treasurer.

A seventh year of record earnings in the fiscal period 2016 – and a first half of 2017 that promises another blockbuster year – saw TD Bank prove yet again that it is the franchise to beat in Canada. The firm’s unrivalled breadth and depth secure it Euromoney’s best bank in Canada award for another year.

To be a top bank in the financing arena in the last 12 months, you need to have demonstrated flexibility. The ability to move quickly from one market or currency to another, or to switch between different parts of the capital structure, requires product strength and the kind of internal coordination that many banks preach but few practise. One that has consistently made a virtue of such flexibility is Bank of America Merrill Lynch, our pick for North America’s best bank for financing.

Austria’s best bank notched its best result to date last year on the back of a recovery in its emerging Europe operations. But while the group’s international network tended to grab the headlines, the domestic business also put in another strong showing.

Euromoney names HSBC as the World’s Best Bank and Morgan Stanley as the World’s Best Investment Bank; UniCredit’s chief executive Jean Pierre Mustier wins Banker of the Year award.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch wins the award for the best investment bank in the region.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch wins the award for best bank for advisory.

Integrating CSR in every business and pioneering new structures in affordable housing and green finance, Bank of America shows that good corporate citizenship is also good business.

BAML has moved beyond being a financier to become the lead strategic adviser to a select target group of large corporations.

The Argentine banking system is beginning to return to a semblance of normality, with signs such as positive interest rates. But the road back to international standards is a long one. After many years of economic dysfunction and highly prescriptive banking regulations (including mandatory lending to segments and floors and caps on interest rates), it will take a long time for an orthodox banking sector to appear.

Years of cutting costs, simplifying structures, settling litigation and plugging holes in its coverage have brought one bank to the position where it is now firing on all cylinders across pretty much all of its US business portfolio. ‘Responsible growth’ is the guiding mantra for Bank of America chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan, and his success in putting those words into practice is why his firm is Euromoney’s best bank in the US. Moynihan might not be the flashiest of bank chiefs, but he knows his bank and he knows what clients in its home market want from it. His focus on building up the firm’s core middle-market franchise has borne fruit – not just in increased business loans but also on coverage more broadly. He drove the creation of deeper regional structures within the US, led by ‘market presidents’ who take personal responsibility for coordinating the bank’s activities across the country.

Charting the evolution of the FX industry.

Overall market share Overall banks only Overall non-bank liquidity providers only Spot/forward market share Swap market share Options market share Emerging market currencies market share

Euromoney magazine has released the results of its 39th annual foreign exchange ranking, the most comprehensive quantitative and qualitative annual study available on the FX markets.

It is tough to create a franchise in global finance, but over the last five years Christian Meissner has mixed a potent cocktail at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s global corporate and investment bank. Can it build its relationships with key clients to the point where it becomes a true challenger to JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs?

Banks might want to stop blaming regulators for delays in opening accounts for businesses and the high costs of international payments and FX, because if they don’t do a better job, challengers will.

Last year was far from a vintage year for the big five US corporate and investment banking franchises, with almost no business lines seeing an overall increase in revenues in 2016, but the gains in fixed income sales and trading were enough to inch CIB division revenues up by 1.4% to $142 billion.

Remember the days when it was investment bank divisions that were the drag on banks’ group cost-to-income ratios?

The increasing dominance of global investment banking by US firms is hard to ignore.

The election of Donald Trump prompted a vicious sell-off in global bonds. Investors face the new year with warnings over volatility and inflation ringing in their ears. Will it be as bad as they think?

Bank stocks rallied after Trump’s victory in the US election on hopes that higher trading revenue will outweigh potential disruption to global trade. A second act for traders now beckons.

The oil and gas sector has so far avoided making wholesale change to its treasury processes, but as the low price environment continues, firms are now being forced to explore cost cutting.

Revenues still depressed by poor ECM; DCM and M&A resilient but at low levels.

Some landmark deals from international banks are pioneering the green-bond structure in Latin America. But until the region begins to sell in local currency to local investors, the potential will remain unfulfilled.

While HSBC scores a notable double in Euromoney’s annual global rankings, the record response rate of almost 35,000 validated votes generated a host of changes at the upper end of our cash management survey. Regional banks move to the fore and some previous global leaders have dropped back.

Results index

Results index Global All transactions 2016 2015 Bank Score 1 2 HSBC 6548 2 3 Citi 3830 3 1 Deutsche Bank 3116 4 13 Bank of New York Mellon 1728 5 14 Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation 1536 6 8 JPMorgan 1534 7 5 Commerzbank 1359 8 4 Bank of America Merrill Lynch 1339 9 6 Standard Chartered 1305 10 7 Barclays 1303 11 9 Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ 1209 12 32 Industrial & Commercial Bank of China 1057 13 45 DBS Bank 1045 14 12 Wells Fargo 823 15 11 Bank of China 817 16 19 Societe Generale 721 17 18 Mizuho Bank 692 18 16 UniCredit 607 19 21 ADCB 605 20 15 RBS 535 21 10 BNP Paribas Fortis 504 22 Cathay United Bank 501 23 22 Yapi Kredi 355 24 UOB 352 25 ANZ Banking Group 340 26 23 ING Group 265 27 35= Agricultural Bank of China 251 28 29 Akbank 250 29 17 RZB 223 30 137= Bank Mandiri 218 31 42 Arab Bank 194 32 39 Bank of Communications 193 33 28 UBS 189 34 ATF Bank 188 35 208= Bank Central Asia 182 36 BNI 46 162 37 CIMB 156 38 38 Danske Bank 152 39 65= Banco BPI 144 40 208= Bangkok Bank 132 41 Siam Commercial Bank 126 42 40 Credit Agricole 122 43 34 BBVA 118 44 Hang Seng 116 45 41 Lloyds 114 46= 27 Garanti Bank 110 46= 74= Bancolombia 110 48 Bank Danamon 107 49 NAB 106 50 Bank of Nanjing 103

Almost 35,000 companies and financial institutions vote, a record response rate; HSBC wins globally for both client sectors; and there are big changes at the upper end of cash management survey, with regional banks to the fore and some once global leaders dropping back.