Citi

Citi is perhaps the only global markets business remaining that shows that scale and breadth – both geographically and by product – can deliver good returns.

In a year that was difficult for much of Africa because of low commodity prices and especially the price of oil, which dragged down deal activity, one investment bank outshone its peers, managing to remain busy throughout the period. That bank was Citi, which wins this year’s best investment bank in Africa award.

Citi wins the award for best bank for markets in Latin America. The US bank maintains a very wide presence in the region and is a strong competitor across the board. Led by regional head of markets and securities services, Jaime Roblesgil, the bank has been focusing on building up its controls in recent years, in alignment with its global practices. Coordination is vital. Citi has 530 personnel operating in 21 countries in the region (as well as in Miami and New York).

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.

The narrative in the Albanian banking sector was unchanged last year as Banka Kombetare Tregtare (BKT) continued to assert its dominance over former market leader Raiffeisen Bank. By the end of December, the Turkish-owned lender accounted for more than a quarter of all deposits in the country and nearly 22% of overall loans, while its Austrian rival saw its share of both markets slip to below 20%.

Citi aims to develop new banking apps with the speed of a Silicon Valley startup and deliver them across a vast incumbent bank.

Africa has been a difficult market to contend with over the last year, for both local and international banks operating across the continent. But with a widespread local and correspondent banking presence, Citi has taken this year’s award for Africa’s best bank in transaction services.

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.

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.

In corporate social responsibility, it is also rare to find financial institutions who manage to take their contributions beyond the occasional charitable donations, but rather put their financial acumen to good use in the community.

Commercial International Bank wins region’s best bank award; winners reflect year of reform and easing bank liquidity; record year for Gulf debt capital markets sees HSBC retaining investment-banking title, while local and international banks do battle for regional and domestic awards.

As in much of the Gulf, banking conditions in Bahrain were difficult over the last year. Despite these challenges, Ahli United Bank did well.

More than 2,000 private banks took part in the 2017 Euromoney private banking survey. See who’s up and who’s down globally, regionally and by country.

UBS Wealth Management voted best global private bank; new regional winners; private banks less bullish on revenues; non-bank competition a minor concern.

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.

Citi's new mobile app is a first crucial step to re-invention. Head of consumer banking, Stephen Bird, tells Euromoney the bank may have only a couple of years to convince customers it is the high-quality, always-connected partner with the services they want.

The world seems to be turning away from globalization and towards protectionism. Yet despite this challenging environment for trade, the bankers who finance it remain surprisingly upbeat.

Internal analytics, not retail price war, behind the move; strong growth expectations prompt high bank valuations.

Brexit threatens eurozone, but region still crucial to global banks.

Citi seeks to commit to Mexico after Latin America withdrawal; HSBC injects capital but commitment questioned.

The topic of Brexit was never going to be far from the minds of delegates at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the Institute of International Finance, both being held this week in Washington, DC. And on Friday afternoon, delegates got a chance to hear the views of three vocal US bank chief executives — Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan, Mike Corbat of Citi and James Gorman of Morgan Stanley.

Collapsing investment banking volumes have prompted global players to pull back from emerging Europe over the past two years. But Citi’s Jim Cowles, CEO for EMEA, has alternative sources of revenue to fall back on.

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

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.

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.