The firm is leveraging the efficiency and craft it has built in digital to take it into the markets that surround its home base.

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.

DBS is an institution in which every part of the business – from cash management to private banking, from SMEs to retail – is being enriched by a challenging process of wilful digital disruption.

DBS is all about digitization bringing costs down, but Thursday’s numbers show a reversal. It’s caused by the acquisition of ANZ’s wealth business in Asia.

The results of the Euromoney Trade Finance Survey 2018 show the emergence of two very different trends: the sustained presence of the global trade finance bank, and the rising influence of regional institutions.

HSBC rises to the top of trade finance.

No other bank explains its tech performance better than DBS

As we drift towards the end of the year, conferences seem to be full of panels on asset allocation for the 12 months ahead: sometimes a bold investor will go so far as to say what they invest in themselves; sometimes that’s a surprise.

Analysts are glowing in their praise of Piyush Gupta’s digital strategy – how has he done it?

September brought Formula One to Singapore once again, and with it the usual draconian restrictions on advertising by anyone who is not firmly contracted to F1.

Asia’s disparate markets and economies have found common ground in the widespread adoption of digital technology. Starting with consumer clients, expectations are rising up the banking chain and banks need to keep pace.

The firm has invested heavily in its GTS offering in recent years – this year’s rankings see it rise on a tide of high customer satisfaction with its suite of new products.

As the complexities of charging for fixed income research become more apparent, many asset managers are deciding to pay for it and equity research themselves, but with just four months to go, they are no closer to knowing how much this will cost.

HSBC holds top place in both the global financial institutions and non-financial institutions results; global banks dominate but regional banks continue rise.

Front End went to our local DBS bank branch in Singapore to find it had been closed – sorry, not closed: merged.

It is genuinely impossible to have a conversation with anyone at DBS without it turning swiftly to digital initiatives. Whether it is a transaction services or an SME banker across the table, capital markets or even CSR, and most certainly if it is CEO Piyush Gupta, it is clear that the digital agenda pervades everything DBS does, which makes it a worthy winner of this year’s best digital bank. DBS is not alone in this, but it is the one bank that convinces you that its use of technology is not just about marketing and simplification, but is translating into profits and new business.

Euromoney predicted last month that ANZ would sell its retail and wealth management businesses to a Singaporean bank; it turns out it was already in the works. Both DBS and ANZ gain from a practical deal, though it won’t be quite as simple as it looks

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.

Who comes out best and worst from the DoJ report into 1MDB?

Asian banks are increasingly proving themselves to be much more than just volume-hungry lenders.

Results index It is time to acknowledge a home-grown banking champion that, while still lacking the pan-Asian scope of some international rivals, has demonstrated consistent excellence and a commitment to innovation. At a time when many western banks are in retreat from Asia, it is right to applaud one that is increasing market penetration almost everywhere it attempts to do business.

Results index Piyush Gupta, the CEO of DBS, is a great believer in the threat to banking from platforms like Ant Financial, and in the opportunity available for those who get ahead of the game. Gupta has invested S$4.6 billion in digital strategies in the last five years. He has also insisted that everyone in his team buy in to the vision, arguing that it is much easier to effect change if 22,000 staff believe in it than to try to drive it from the top down.

These are miserable times in Australian banking, which is suffering issues ranging from banking culture to credit quality as the commodity cycle ends. Commonwealth Bank has reputational issues around its CommInsure unit, while both ANZ and Westpac are under investigation for rate manipulation.

Euromoney names BNP Paribas as the world’s best bank and HSBC the world’s best investment bank for 2016; BBVA’s Francisco González is banker of the year and completes a great night for Europe.