Covid-19 may be the moment sovereign wealth funds were made for: a shocking disruption to national economies that calls for a stable, patiently invested buffer. Funds have reacted in different ways, but they’re all bigger, shrewder and hopefully smarter than they were during the GFC.

Even during Turkey’s recent economic turbulence, Akbank has maintained its commitment to innovation and has been the standout private-sector lender in the country.

Its reincarnation as a sensible corporate bank is still a work in progress, but Deutsche’s achievements so far deserve recognition.

Citi’s scale across the emerging markets is unrivalled, and its investment bankers have been successful in playing to that strength throughout the last year.

The ECB has been pushing consolidation in the hope that it will make European banks more efficient and sustainable, but it will require large-scale job losses in a weak economy.

The G20 has called for renewed efforts to enhance slow and costly international payments. The founder of Worldpay and ClearBank may have the answer.

The lifeline that Berlin promised Germany’s businesses earlier this year was so large it made other corporate rescues in Europe look tame. In its determination to protect companies and jobs Berlin is stirring new debate, at home and abroad, about its growing role as an industrial decision maker and even shareholder. Can the country use its financial muscle to relaunch its own sputtering economic model?

The EU recovery fund could deliver so much more than just a short-term boost to peripheral sovereign bonds and European equities.

Despite the fanfare around their announcement, many of the proposed benefits of the 'fintech bridges' or bilateral agreements the UK government has reached with regulators around the world have yet to be realized.

Investors beware – countries in the region have been downgraded in Euromoney’s country risk survey this year.

The EU’s new recovery fund is a historic step to help the countries worst affected by Covid avoid a debt trap. If the EU’s short-term bills become a risk-free, interest-rate instrument, this temporary response to the deadly virus could become a permanent change to Europe’s capital markets

Exits at ABN Amro, including its big operation in commodity trade finance, raise questions about ING, as both firms enjoy much better returns in Dutch retail lending.

UniCredit CEO Jean Pierre Mustier is among bankers pushing for easier corporate access to government equity, as state-backed loans have heightened firms’ indebtedness, and firms’ sales struggle to recover.

With staff working from home and use of digital signatures not yet ubiquitous, banks need to step up security measures to prevent opportunistic criminals profiting from the disruption caused by coronavirus.

State-guaranteed lending to help hard-hit firms in Germany has lagged its equivalents in France, Spain, Italy and the UK. State development bank KfW says that’s a good thing.

Analysts expect the European recovery fund to underpin a strengthening of the single currency against the dollar over the rest of this year and beyond.

The coronavirus recession makes the need for bank consolidation in Europe even more pressing. But neither a more accommodative stance on M&A at the ECB nor the EU’s new recovery fund will be enough to make it happen.

A backdrop of buoyant economic growth, falling unemployment and rising consumer confidence gave Serbia’s banks a welcome boost last year.

Crédit Agricole takes the lead in Western Europe in this year's Euromoney Awards for Excellence.

Western Europe’s best investment bank, BNP Paribas, is increasingly central to capital markets across the continent. That’s been particularly clear since the onset of the coronavirus crisis.

The vital role for UK corporate clients played by Barclays was clearer than ever during the coronavirus crisis: the bank arranged £9.9 billion of commercial paper issuance under the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility, almost half of the total.

The coordination of the financial response to the coronavirus crisis has sometimes seemed easier in France than elsewhere in Europe.

Cyprus’s strict approach to tackling the coronavirus has meant the health crisis has been much less severe there than in many other states in Europe.

There is fierce competition in sustainable finance in Western Europe, but this year one bank stands out for its commitment across all the sectors and countries in which it operates and for its work on ensuring the needs of both environment and society are addressed.

The Covid-19 crisis has emphasized the importance of banks that can stand by their clients and bring them funding in the toughest times. Euromoney’s best bank for financing in Western Europe, BNP Paribas, has stepped up to a greater extent than peers, especially on a pan-European level – although its achievements this year go beyond the coronavirus response.

UniCredit is the region’s best bank in this year’s Euromoney Awards for Excellence.

As you’d expect from ING, Euromoney’s best bank for transaction services in Western Europe, technological innovation a plays a central role in its wholesale banking offering.

Center-Invest Bank became the first Russian bank to issue a green bond with its R250 million ($3.56 million) offering in November last year. It was a natural step for a bank that has been committed to the environment and responsible banking from its inception.

BNP Paribas has sustainability and inclusiveness at its heart, as shown in its approach to all of its stakeholders. This year the bank wins the award for the region’s best bank for corporate responsibility.

As Spain became one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus, Spanish banks were quick to pledge financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises.