BTG Pactual

If China is to have a leader in banking on the global stage, it is likely to be the internationalist Bank of China.

Banco do Brasil wins the award for the region’s best bank transformation.

NLB Banka

This year, the region’s best investment bank is BTG Pactual. It climbed back to leadership in its domestic market and grew strongly elsewhere in the region.

The firm has done well at home and in the region. Part of that is down to its ownership structure, and the rest is because growth is part of its DNA.

Despite the headwinds for region’s banks, there were some outstanding performances that demonstrate what can be achieved without macroeconomic support. The best example of this was Santander Brasil, Latin America’s best bank.

Digital banking brings opportunities – especially so for startups. Unencumbered by bricks and mortar branches – as well other fixed costs associated with the traditional banks – many purely digital firms have achieved impressive growth.

Ukrgasbank is one Ukraine’s largest banks, serving 900,000 retail customers in addition to small and medium-sized enterprises and corporates.

BTG Pactual

Divestments at the Singaporean sovereign wealth vehicle tell a story of a tough investment environment.

Should an institution with all that scale and ability be delivering more than this? The problem with long-term numbers is they still reflect issues from 20 years ago.

Arthur Hayes felt the golden days of finance had gone by the time he got started in investment banking in Hong Kong – until cryptocurrency gave him the opportunity to establish platform BitMEX, now one of the most successful bitcoin exchanges in the world.

Perhaps the greatest sign that a merger has been successful is if it motivates others to follow suit. That has certainly been the case with the formation of First Abu Dhabi Bank, the Emirati financial institution which we recognise this year as having effected the best bank transformation across the Middle East.

Funding for small and medium-sized businesses remains largely deficient across the Middle East. The region’s economies could grow by a further 1% each year if access to finance improved for SMEs, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director Christine Lagarde said earlier this year.

This year Egypt’s Commercial International Bank (CIB) wins best bank for corporate responsibility in the Middle East.

In a career in banking that spans more than four decades, Michel Accad’s talent for making the best of bad situations has earned him the overwhelming respect of his peers.

Argentina’s politicians have played their cards for the coming presidential election – Cristina Kirchner surprised everyone by lining up behind Alberto Fernandez.

The exodus of staff from CLSA is gathering pace.

Will a good Shanghai tech board be bad for Hong Kong?

Is China heading for a Lehman Brothers moment? No, but that doesn’t mean its debt position isn’t a mess, and it’s going to get worse.

$2.5 billion deal makes bank more profitable and a purer ‘Latam’ play; CEO says still huge upside on valuations, and revenue growth to come.

A UBS economist made an innocuous comment about swine flu in China, and five days later a belief among Chinese speakers that he used a racist term has led to him being suspended, UBS apologizing and it disappearing from a key Chinese bond mandate. Now what?

HSBC wants to triple both onshore and offshore revenues, profits and ebitda in Brazil within five years.

The Euromoney Belt and Road Index (EBRI) reveals the Middle East leapfrogging Africa, with its economic and investor climate improving for the first time.

What do you give Russia's retired central banker?

Frustration is building quickly in Brazil. What was supposed to be the beginning of a credit cycle – and a structural improvement in long-term economic growth – is becoming just another false dawn.

HSBC, JPMorgan and Mizuho lend Mexico’s oil company $8 billion after investors show no interest in non-deal roadshow – and that’s the least of the firm’s problems.

A case by Hong Kong’s ICAC against an individual on bribery charges is another example of Asia-Pacific regulators targeting the person as well as the institution.

OUE real-estate investment trust (Reit) merger follows Viva-ESR; hope is to create better liquidity in stocks.