Strategic tensions as much as short-term underperformance brought about BAML investment banking head Christian Meissner’s departure, but the corporate and investment bank remains in a strong position

Any important new market needs its innovators, cheerleaders and pioneers… As banks try to build more responsible and sustainable businesses, these are the champions of impact banking at 10 of the world’s biggest firms. From green and blue finance to financial inclusion and social banking, they are leading the way and setting an agenda for others to follow.

From the United Nations and the European Commission to customers and shareholders, the world’s banks face increasing pressure not only to consider their broader role in society but also to take actions that have a positive impact on it. There is no doubt that most chief executives take this challenge seriously. Whether they take it far enough remains to seen.

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Fixed income research consumers tell us which research teams have impressed them most over the last 12 months.

Regulatory change, cost pressures, advances in technology and more-demanding customers: treasurers have a lot on their minds, but artificial intelligence (AI) is here to help.

The last instalment of our results analysis looks at banks’ markets businesses

Day 2 of our look at the performance of the 12 big CIBs over the past year, this time focusing on the investment banking business lines

With HSBC having reported on Monday, the last of the 2Q18 results are in for the 12 main global corporate and investment banks; now for part 1 of our number-crunch

When Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Asia president, Matthew Koder, gets going on corporate responsibility, your best chance of getting out of the room within an hour and a half is an earthquake. Koder chose to pitch personally in only one category, this one, and in truth everything BAML put in for – investment banking, transaction services and country awards from the Philippines to Japan – is presented through the filter of corporate responsibility.

One perk of interviewing banks about sustainable finance has to be the building tours taking in recycled carpets and in-building power plants, but it is not often that you get treated to a rooftop tour of bee hives.

Equity capital markets moves at Citi and BAML say more about the two firms than they do about ECM.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s operations in western Europe over the last year have seen the bank develop its own structure to keep pace in a market that is both exciting and volatile, making it western Europe’s best bank for transaction services.

Working out clever ways to allow customers to manage processes like payments and loan applications quickly and easily is a basic requirement of digital banking in 2018. But doing it in huge scale is complex and admirable, and all the more so when it meshes seamlessly with the human and physical side of the business. Bank of America has got all this right, making it North America’s best digital bank.

In green bond issuance, Bank of America leads the way, adding a fourth green bond to its list in May this year. It was its largest yet, at $2.25 billion, and its proceeds will support renewable energy generation.

It is hard to imagine another bank coming close to Bank of America Merrill Lynch for the sheer breadth of what it can offer to small and medium-sized enterprises. A lot of that is to do with a philosophy that looks beyond the size of the client to the value of nurturing a sound business and to be best-positioned to support it as it grows.

Big and clever, that is what you needed to be to be a leader in the financing business in the last 12 months, and no one achieved that combination better in the region than Bank of America Merrill Lynch, North America’s best bank for financing.

Argentina

Improving social mobility, caring in the community, supporting employees in challenging times and committing to equity – Bank of America has shown a long-standing commitment to D&I.

Good, sustainable returns for shareholders are finally in sight, 10 years after the global financial crisis.

The rising economic fortunes of the largest countries lifted nearly all investment banking boats. Local investment banking franchises continued to notch up strong deal flow and fees, but last year was noticeable for the improvement in the fortunes of the international banks.

Austria

Under Thiago Fernandes, head of environmental, social and governance (ESG) for Latin America, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is changing the way corporate philanthropy operates in Brazil; this year it wins Euromoney’s award for Latin America’s best bank for corporate responsibility.

Having stabilized the bank after the financial crisis, Bank of America’s management conceived a simple plan for its future: maintain a diverse set of businesses but deal with less risky customers; provide them with fewer, simpler products; automate for efficiency; and then grow by doing more for these customers. Easy to say, but hard to do – it took time and billions of dollars of investment. With results now shining through, the bank that once looked too big to succeed has a shot at domination.

Bank of America sets the standard for the new era of banking.

Bank of America and Citi win top prizes; Credit Suisse’s Tidjane Thiam is named Banker of the Year; Asian banks make their mark in global awards.

Technology is rapidly transforming the payments landscape for corporates and retail customers alike, and the systems that gain traction tend to be those that give consumers better visibility of their money – or make their lives easier in other ways.

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Euromoney magazine has released the results of its 40th annual foreign exchange ranking, the most comprehensive quantitative and qualitative annual study available on the FX markets.