Proponents of banking-as-a-service will be hoping that UniCredit’s decision to acquire Aion Bank and Vodeno marks a turning point in a sector that has experienced considerable volatility.

New institutional investors are providing liquidity to longstanding Revolut employees and giving a valuation proof point to its stunning revenue and profit growth.

National champion banks should worry that the latest surveys commissioned by the Competition and Markets Authority might prompt loss of more primary accounts.

Bank of Cyprus’s decision to shift its listing back to Athens also shows how far Greece has recovered.

Buying Axa IM would be BNP Paribas chief executive Jean-Laurent Bonnafé’s biggest acquisition. It has been a long time in the making.

Alongside UniCredit’s recent acquisition of Polish financial technology company Vodeno, the US private equity takeover of VeloBank is another sign of renewed optimism in Poland.

Revolut is strongly profitable while growing fast, diversifying revenues and finally being admitted to the banking club. Watch out.

The role of Mediobanca adds to the similarities between BBVA’s hostile bid for Banco Sabadell and Intesa Sanpaolo’s takeover of UBI Banca in 2020. But there are stark differences of institutional character, politics and timing.

Wholesale banking head Andrew Bester explains the renowned retail bank’s ambition to win new revenues building on its expertise in sustainable finance.

Political instability in France, coupled with better EU-UK relations, could threaten Paris’ ability to rival London as a financial centre. But a focus on institutional clients among French and other EU banks is already helping London’s resilience – a trend that shows little sign of abating.

UK pension schemes have made clear their opposition to reduced investors protections, while the FCA may come to regret pushing through its new listing regime.

Banks are refining their single-dealer platforms to replicate the price comparison benefits of the multi-dealer model while accentuating the former’s unique features.

Most banks focus their corporate responsibility agendas on environmental, social and governance metrics and the drive to net zero, as well as on diversity and inclusion in terms of their customers and their own workforces. Banco Santander, western Europe’s best bank for corporate responsibility, has for many years looked beyond these core aspects of responsibility and found other ways to contribute to society.

Belgium-based KBC’s Bulgarian unit formally merged with former Raiffeisen International Bank subsidiary United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) in 2023, creating the country’s biggest bank. KBC had completed the legal acquisition of RBI’s operations in Bulgaria in 2022. Most of the synergies of the merger were, therefore, far from being realised in 2023 as the operational integration was only just beginning.

All banks invest heavily in their digital products and services, but the return on that investment can vary widely.

There are many ways in which banks can demonstrate their commitment to social responsibility and some come amid the most challenging times. The devastating earthquake in southern Turkey at the beginning of last year triggered an immediate response in support for the affected communities from the country’s corporate and banking sectors.

Giving state-owned lenders awards for commercial banking is typically something Euromoney is reluctant to do, especially in former Communist countries. But anyone who knows Ukraine knows that PrivatBank is not your average former Soviet state-owned bank.

The fourth-biggest bank in Portugal, which has been fully owned by Spain’s CaixaBank since the end of 2018, saw an exceptional performance in 2023. After record results for the firm across the board, Banco BPI is clear winner of the award for Portugal’s best bank.

Even its rivals in Spain admit to feeling the impact last year as CaixaBank moved on from integrating Bankia to concentrating more exclusively on developing its business organically. This is evident, for example, in the savings market, where its customer funds increased by 3.1% in 2023. In insurance, a vital part of the group’s activities, there was also healthy growth, with a 7% volume growth in general and life risk premiums.

A spike in Armenian bank M&A this year has underscored the growth opportunity for banks in the local market. The country’s best bank, Ameriabank, was bought by Bank of Georgia earlier this year, and Ardshinbank is in the process of acquiring HSBC Armenia.

It is not normally thought of as one of the banks with a large stronghold on central and eastern Europe. Nevertheless, BNP Paribas still owns relatively large banks in what are, in effect after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the region’s two biggest markets in terms of banking: Poland and Turkey.

HSBC wins the award for western Europe’s best bank for transaction services thanks to the delivery of an impressive range of services to corporate treasurers that the bank has developed over years of heavy investment.

Even its rivals in Spain admit to feeling the impact last year as CaixaBank moved on from integrating Bankia to concentrating more exclusively on developing its business organically. This is evident, for example, in the savings market, where its customer funds increased by 3.1% in 2023. In insurance, a vital part of the group’s activities, there was also healthy growth, with a 7% volume growth in general and life risk premiums.

Despite the Latvian economy dipping into recession last year, the banking sector delivered impressive bottom-line growth, with total profits almost doubling year on year to €622 million.

BNP Paribas Wealth Management operates across 17 countries, serving a client base of entrepreneurs, family offices and high net-worth individuals.

The Czech Republic has long been considered one of the most attractive banking markets in central and eastern Europe in terms of the risk-return dynamic. All the top five banks are foreign-owned, and the sector has been relatively consistent in terms of its earnings. The higher interest-rate environment, so far, has reinforced the sector’s good profitability, despite a new tax on bank profits, not least because asset quality has remained healthy.

Prospects for the Azerbaijani banking sector continue to improve as bank balance sheets strengthen and tighter regulatory oversight is established. Nowhere is this more evident than at Bank ABB – International Bank of Azerbaijan – which has made good progress since the decisive resolution of its legacy risks in 2022.

Market doubts, three years ago, about whether Andrea Orcel’s management of UniCredit would be sufficiently orientated to shareholder value have proven to be far from the mark. Orcel might have shied away from a deal with the Italian government to buy Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena in 2021, but this has not prevented UniCredit from remaining a large and growing part of the European banking story.

Lithuanian banks successfully shrugged off a stagnating economy and the government’s windfall tax last year to double net profits.

International banks inevitably capture a large share of international debt issuance from Poland, notably the sovereign and large commercial banks. But Trigon remains a national success story in investment banking as a purely Polish and private-sector player. It has a large local team that includes one of the country’s most extensive equity research capabilities.

After being knocked back by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kazakhstan’s economy rebounded last year, notching up over 5% growth on strong levels of consumer and public spending.

In 2023, central and eastern Europe’s M&A markets held up relatively well, with a total deal value of more than $30 billion according to Dealogic. Lazard, CEE’s best bank for advisory, was involved in many of the most important advisory situations in the region.

Despite the overbearing presence in Hungary of national champion OTP – and the emergence in 2023 of a much larger government-owned lender in the form of MBH Bank – international firms continue to compete in the domestic market. The biggest of these international players is K&H Bank, owned by Brussels-based group KBC.

Banca Intesa Beograd had standout year in 2023, launching a number of key initiatives and delivering another set of record results.

Like in the neighbouring Czech Republic, foreign groups own all five of Slovakia’s top five banks. And like in the Czech Republic and elsewhere, higher interest rates have brought higher profits – and new taxes on banks, in Slovakia’s case following the formation of a new government in October last year.

For Danske Bank, Denmark’s best bank, 2023 was a year of rehabilitation after a difficult period that culminated in the settlement in late 2022 of historic money laundering issues. With a strong financial performance that saw profits nearly double even after adjusting for the regulatory charges in 2022, the bank has come roaring back to life.

Romania was the place of perhaps the most important bank M&A deal to be announced in 2023: the merger of the local units of Italian group UniCredit and Greece’s Alpha Bank. The deal promised to allow UniCredit, as the owner of 90% of the merged entity, to supplant Societe Generale-owned BRD as the country’s third-biggest bank.

NLB Banka is Montenegro’s best bank, having demonstrated strong growth and development last year, which in turn contributed to its record bottom line.

Barclays has integrated sustainability across its operations and financing activities, significantly reducing emissions and enhancing its commitment to green investment.

Presenting annual earnings in early February 2024, Frank Vang-Jensen had good reason to be delighted with the 2023 performance of the bank he leads as chief executive. After another year in which Nordea strengthened its profile in all four of its main markets, including performing strongly in its home country, the bank again wins the award for Finland’s best bank.

While political protests in Tbilisi introduced some additional risk to the Georgian economy last year, economic growth remained robust thanks to strong domestic demand and capital inflows from tourism and exports.

Some analysts were quick to call it the deal of the century. The first takeover of a global systemically important bank that repeated management errors and regulatory failure had brought to the brink of collapse was a rescue by its domestic rival. It was a humiliation for Switzerland that, with customers pulling their money in vast quantities over several months, Credit Suisse was left to carry on to the very brink of insolvency.

The fourth-biggest bank in Portugal, which has been fully owned by Spain’s CaixaBank since the end of 2018, saw an exceptional performance in 2023. After record results for the firm across the board, Banco BPI is clear winner of the award for Portugal’s best bank.

Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo is the country’s best bank after a year in which it introduced of a series of new and enhanced products across its banking businesses, materially grew its client base and generated a record net profit.

Since its foundation in 1885 as a cooperative and mutual bank, social usefulness has been central to Crédit Agricole’s business model. It was an early pioneer of sustainable finance. It was one of the first banks to commit to exiting the thermal coal industry by 2030 in OECD countries and by 2040 for the rest of the world.

The Belgian government’s retail bond programme last year, which pressured lenders to raise deposits, was just one element of a relatively tough environment for banks in Belgium. The country also sits at the opposite end of the spectrum to southern Europe in terms of the proportion of loans on floating-rate deals, meaning local banks benefit less from higher eurozone interest rates.

Raiffeisen Bank is Albania’s best bank this year in recognition of its retail, corporate and treasury banking services, and its strong financial performance during the year. This was demonstrated across product and service enhancements in its main three banking businesses.

Benefiting from robust economic growth in the country, Uzbekistan’s banking sector continued its rapid expansion last year and one bank led the pack, SQB, the country’s second largest lender.

Transaction services are a vital part of UniCredit’s rationale as a pan-European bank, and its leadership in this area is particularly evident in central and eastern Europe, where the bank’s regional head of transactions and payments is Riccardo Madinelli.

DemirBank is Kyrgyzstan’s best bank in recognition of an impressive performance last year.

It is hardly surprising that an Italian bank should excel at lending to small and medium-sized enterprises, which are the backbone of the industrial strategy of the country. SMEs are at the heart of UniCredit’s UniCredit per l’Italia strategy, which has seen a further €10 billion of support extended to individuals and corporates this year – including a special assistance package for Emilia Romagna in May in response to widespread flooding.

Things could not have gone much worse in 2023 for Islandsbanki, the bank that won this award in the past two years. A long-awaited regulatory report into the sale of part of the government’s holding in 2022 found that Islandsbanki itself had committed various violations during the process. Islandsbanki was fined Isk1.2 billion ($8.6 million), a record for Iceland.

Despite the Estonian economy experiencing a severe recession last year, the country’s banking sector remained robust and continued to generate stellar growth, supported by the resilience of companies and households facing higher interest rates.

The awards period marked a triumphant return to performance for Allied Irish Banks (AIB), Ireland’s best bank. Putting behind it its involvement in the years-long industry-wide tracker mortgage scandal in Ireland, for which it was fined €100 million in 2022, the bank posted a very strong recovery in 2023, with record profits that nearly tripled versus the previous year. Revenues rose 62%, driven by net interest income that was up more than 80%.

Banking small and medium-sized companies across central and eastern Europe has become intensely competitive for the regional banks. Even amid the anaemic economic growth of last year, competition to grow the SME client base remained high as banks sought to expand their market share and boost assets.

It has been a great time to be a Greek banker. Rating agencies returned the sovereign to investment grade in 2023 and the country’s lenders, having reduced non-performing loans and cost of risk while rebuilding capital ratios, also delivered improved profits.

For many banks, sustainable finance is about more than just finance, it is about the quality of advice they provide and what they themselves are doing to be more sustainable.

For a small economy, Luxembourg boasts many banks: 120 were authorized in 2023. Many of these primarily serve international clients, in particular providing securities services to institutional investors from across Europe and beyond.

It was a mixed year in Austrian banking in 2023. Higher eurozone interest rates bolstered banks’ net interest margins, but at the end of the year the bankruptcy of Austrian real estate group Signa shone the spotlight on what Moody’s said was €2.2 billion of lending by Austrian banks to Signa.

Commerzbank has seen a remarkable bounce back in its profitability and share price over the past four years, something that was particularly apparent in 2023. The year began with its re-inclusion in the DAX in February, five years after it was ejected from the index of German blue-chip stocks. This was thanks to a dramatic recovery in its share price from the depths it hit during the early Covid-19 period.

The 100th anniversary of Isbank, Turkey’s biggest private-sector lender, has come after some challenging years for the country's economy and financial sector.

As the equity capital markets remained sluggish across Europe last year, financing activity was all about debt. So, it is perhaps no surprise that western Europe’s best bank for financing this year is the one that dominated the debt capital markets league tables working on 509 deals worth $128 billion equivalent for a 7% market share: BNP Paribas. Even in ECM, the French firm ranked number five behind sector leaders BofA Securities and Goldman Sachs.

For the volume of sustainable finance being provided to the Turkish economy, as well as innovation in sustainability products, Akbank wins the award as best bank for environmental, social and governance this year.

Under the steady leadership of chief executive Kjerstin Braathen, Norway’s biggest bank continues to perform strongly and is far from relaxing its efforts just because of its size. DNB faces an surprising array of competition in such a small market, with more than 100 banks operating in the country, but its progress ensures it remains Norway’s best bank for another year.

Despite a local economic slowdown, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s banking sector remained healthy in 2023 for growth, profits and asset quality. It is a market that UniCredit Bank Mostar and Raiffeisen Bank dominate in terms of market share, and this year UniCredit – led locally by chief executive Amina Mahmutović – retains the award for the country’s best bank.

Croatia’s entry into the euro in January 2023 was a landmark event for the country’s banking sector, which is dominated by banks from elsewhere in the European Union.

In recognition of multiple market-leading developments in its banking business and an impressive financial performance last year, maib is Moldova’s best bank.

Nerves were jangling hard in Europe last year, when the panic that had seen many tens of billions of dollars’ worth of deposits flee large US regional banks in a matter of hours suddenly began emerging in Europe.

Western Europe is the most competitive region in the world for investment banking. The big five US firms, with the ambition and capability to claim global leadership, all lead transactions for the continent’s biggest companies as well as for US and Asian multinationals acquiring and raising capital in Europe.

Slightly later than expected, early 2023 saw the legal completion of OTP’s takeover of Nova KBM, Slovenia’s second-biggest bank, first announced in mid 2021. OTP announced in mid April 2024 that it planned to merge Nova KBM with SKB banka – which it bought from Societe Generale in 2019 – in the second half of 2024, subject to regulatory approvals. OTP said the merged entity’s brand will be OTP banka and it will be the country’s biggest bank, overtaking national champion NLB.

Prime minister Donald Tusk’s defeat of the former ruling party PiS in elections last October brought hope for a less strained relationship between Poland and the EU. It also brought hope for more favourable policies towards banks, after the PiS government’s mortgage holidays and bank taxes.

The M&A advisory rankings for 2023 tell a familiar story in western Europe. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs rank top both by revenue and by deal value. But Rothschild & Co advised on almost twice as many transactions as either of the bulge bracket pair and it maintained its third place in the revenue league table ahead even of Morgan Stanley.

The strategic case for banks to remain in central and eastern Europe remains intact: that is the official line from Scope Ratings at least. The agency found that faster growth and higher interest rates in CEE have, overall, boosted the profitability of western European banks present in the region.

By far the biggest bank by assets in the country and boasting nine million account holders, ING is also the best bank in the Netherlands this year.

For HSBC, 2023 was an important year at its UK ring-fenced bank. This delivered its strongest set of results since it was created in 2018, with revenue coming in 36% higher than in 2022. That was in part thanks to higher rates and fat net interest margins, but also to key strategic decisions, such as to make growing market share in mortgages a priority.

Barclays wins the award as the UK’s best investment bank. Even though some investors had to wait for the bank’s investor day in February 2024 to hear it once again reaffirm its commitment to the investment bank, staff in the UK had no doubt of this.

In investment banking, the biggest event of the year was the €2 billion IPO of Hidroelectrica in Romania, Europe’s biggest IPO in 2023. This was Romania’s largest-ever IPO and played a role in reopening the market across the continent, thanks to a strong performance in the secondary market. It also helped reawaken the international capital market to the opportunities in central and eastern Europe.

For its mix of sustainable finance structuring expertise and innovation in retail banking, ING wins the award this year.

SEB, a regular winner of this award, certainly did not rest on its laurels in 2023, posting strong financial results and was able to boast a host of developments across its franchises. For its consistently dominant performance, it is once again Sweden’s best bank.

Under group chief executive Andrea Orcel, UniCredit has reaffirmed its commitment to central and eastern Europe – highlighted by its announcement of the €300 million purchase of Alpha Bank Romania, part of a deal that also involved it taking a stake in the Athens-based group.

Often this award goes to the bank that has done a particularly good job of providing useful digital features through a smartphone app to retail customers. This year we recognize a wholesale bank, most renowned for the technology behind its CashPro offering for payments, receivables, liquidity and FX management. Bank of America is western Europe’s best digital bank.

French banks have not had the net interest margin bonanza that higher interest rates have offered many southern European banks recently. In fact, some French banks saw profit decreases in their domestic retail divisions last year, while areas like markets and vehicle leasing have been less of a support to group profit compared to the immediate post-pandemic period.

The recent move by Greek lender Eurobank to establish a majority stake in Hellenic Bank, Cyprus’ second largest bank, is a potentially transformational deal for the island’s banking sector. During the awards review period, however, it was still unclear when or if Eurobank would be able to merge its existing Cypriot business with Hellenic, but if it does, it could become the largest bank in the country.

HSBC’s choice of a new CEO to replace Noel Quinn was long flagged. Elhedery’s fortune is to be handed the reins of power in an extended period of calm for the UK lender, which benefited immensely from Quinn’s calm stoicism. But deteriorating Sino-US relations mean that turbulence for the London- and Hong Kong-listed lender is sure to return.

The bank is targeting the often-overlooked service sector with structured solutions, along with identifying embedded finance as a fast-growing segment. With the launch of Global Trade Solutions, it goes beyond traditional product offerings and financing.

France’s political and banking troubles obscure good momentum in Societe Generale’s corporate and investment bank. Yes, capital is constrained, but the bank says it is moving in the right direction.

The bank’s decision to sell a large minority stake in Credit Suisse’s former China JV to BSAM, a Beijing-based fund it has known for decades, is a setback for Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities. The US firm is still committed to expanding in China’s troubled market.

Diego De Giorgi’s arrival at Standard Chartered has coincided with important changes at the bank. He talks to Euromoney about the transition from investment banker to chief financial officer, and how the firm can further leverage its advantages amid growing profitability and geopolitical risk.

The limitations of the Alternative Investment Market are forcing many companies to explore other sources of funding. Nevertheless, there is optimism that the market for small and medium-sized growth companies can be revived.

Basel-endgame pushback has reduced the urgency for US banks to relieve capital, but investor appetite for significant risk transfer trades is spilling over to Europe.

The region’s tough economic history, coupled with its strength in soft and hard commodities, makes it best positioned to tackle today’s challenges.

The Siena-based bank has a better bill of health and is once again a target in Italy.

Despite an overwhelmingly Italian business in retail, Intesa Sanpaolo has stepped up its share of corporate and investment banking revenue outside the country. In its global growth markets, divisional chief Mauro Micillo says the firm is here to stay.

With corporates taking a more holistic view of sustainability, banks are under pressure to address concerns over reporting and verification requirements for sustainable working capital, trade finance and liquidity management products.

Risk aversion has spread quickly since the call for a snap election in France, from French government bonds, through bank stocks and CDS spreads to now derail the IPO of an Italian maker of luxury trainers.

It is getting tougher for investors to execute block trades of more than €2 million in Europe’s fragmented equity markets. Matching buyers and sellers needs a return to negotiation and away from pure electronic trading.

After years of retrenchment, Commerzbank’s head of corporate clients Michael Kotzbauer tells Euromoney of a tentative return to growth. The bank has dodged Germany’s commercial real estate slump but is having to adapt to a worsening geopolitical backdrop. Capital and cost efficiency remain big priorities.

Rising confidence in European banks has raised hopes of a surge in domestic M&A, perhaps laying the foundations for the long-sought ideal of genuinely pan-European firms.

Does the high number of drawn-out insolvency cases in the UK suggest a failure of regulation?

John Mathews, head of UHNW Americas for UBS in New York, tells Euromoney why the US’s private banking model is so successful, why the Swiss firm is really in the life counselling business, and explains why it has targeted US ultra-high net worth clients.

Corporate treasurers are playing it safe when balancing the merits of exploiting improved access to capital against the risk of unexpected economic shocks and business interruption.

Financial markets reacted calmly to news of an early UK election, expecting whoever wins to stick to the fiscal rules. But whoever wins must also cope with rising debts and onerous interest payments.

President Macron’s newfound zeal for cross-border financial M&A is creating a headache for France’s big banks.

Will increased transparency in the European corporate bond market lead to higher transaction costs for large trades?

In an interview with Euromoney, European Banking Authority chair José Manuel Campa joins the European Central Bank and others in pressuring banks to do more to prepare for geopolitical risks spreading from Russia to China, the US and Middle East.

Banks and regulators are keen to use instant payments to reduce the influence of Visa and Mastercard on the European payments industry – but replacing these two dominant players will be far from easy.

Although the relative health of some nationalized banks may facilitate their privatization, major obstacles to any sales remain.

It is all about staging when performance is in question.

Some takeovers take time.

UK banks, asset managers and individuals see better returns from dumping UK stocks and investing elsewhere, but the impact eventually becomes ruinous.

BBVA’s bid for Banco Sabadell didn’t appear to be going well when its share price slumped after the announcement. Then Sabadell rejected the offer despite the substantial premium to its own share price.

Twenty-five years ago in Spain, ING launched a branchless bank – still its biggest greenfield retail operation. Euromoney asks Iberia chief executive Ignacio Juliá Vilar what still makes it stand out from both incumbents and newer arrivals.

As mandated real-time payments loom, Europe’s banks and other payment providers must look at modernising legacy infrastructure.

Corporates’ longstanding complaint on banks’ payments offerings is that they don’t know what they are being charged for but suspect it is too much. Airwallex now provides an alternative at global scale.

BBVA could have bought Banco Sabadell much more cheaply in 2020. Sabadell’s CEO César González-Bueno has since turned his bank around. But BBVA’s return to the negotiating table comes at a time when European banking may be moving to a new and more confident phase.

Restructuring HSBC, like painting the Forth bridge, is a never-ending job. While Noel Quinn has done well, the board must not make another ham-fisted transition.

The body responsible for settling about $6.5 trillion of global daily FX trades has decided against extending its deadlines to accommodate non-US participants who still want to use its next-day settlement service. But it expects the impact to be limited – far too limited to justify the complexity that a change would impose on its members.

The two European banks are both trying to de-emphasise their investment banks and want to build up areas where they see weakness. Barclays is later to this party than Deutsche, but both will have found encouragement in the first three months of 2024.

A private credit market growing so fast, away from the oversight of bank regulators, may be a new source of systemic risk. With smaller investors taking greater exposure to an asset class whose high returns and low losses look almost too good to be true, there could be trouble ahead.

Quarterly survey reveals that UK finance professionals may be feeling more upbeat about prospects, but that this is yet to translate into a willingness to take greater risk onto balance sheets.

UK fintechs attracted more investment than all European rivals combined in a tough funding market last year, but a broken IPO market leaves them with nowhere to go.

Rumours that FAB is in exploratory talks with a Turkish lender, together with hopes for a big-ticket IPO, point to optimism despite the dire outlook on inflation.

The EU’s Instant Payments Regulation may have fired the starting gun on real-time payments in Europe, but many banks remain stuck in the blocks.

Isbank’s chief executive Hakan Aran sees embedded finance and an innovative approach to bank branches as the future as the Turkish bank looks to rebuild on a better market environment for its 100-year anniversary.

The good news is that bank executives don’t see big loan losses ahead; the bad news is that they lack the confidence and vision to invest in the business.

The Greek bailout fund’s exit from Piraeus Bank last month was the country’s biggest post-crisis privatization. The bank’s chief executive, Christos Megalou, tells Euromoney that this is more than a capital-return story. It’s also about growth: in the economy, in wealth and asset management, and, thanks to neobank Snappi, internationally.

After a decade of restructuring, EFG International ramped up hiring last year – above all from Credit Suisse. Chief executive Giorgio Pradelli talks about the firm’s scope to lead a wave of Swiss-bank consolidation, while doubling down on new wealth from the Middle East and Asia.

Credit Suisse’s domestic bank was arguably the failed group’s best and strongest division. One year after the rescue, UBS is not the only one trying to feast on its domestic wealth-management and corporate-banking leftovers. Other Swiss and international players also hope to benefit from the longer-term fallout in Switzerland. Will the rush to pick up the remnants of the fallen champion pay off?

The decision by the US SEC to drop mandatory Scope 3 reporting weakens global emissions reporting standards. However, many corporate issuers are already using Scope 3 performance targets on sustainability-linked transactions for non-regulatory reasons. Are the debt and equities markets leading companies onto ESG ground upon which regulators fear to tread?

Norwegian wealth manager Formue has been growing revenues and assets since opening in 2000. It has done this by financially educating people who never gave much thought to wealth planning and by getting people to like it.

LGT Private Banking is the private bank of the Princely House of Liechtenstein. Founded in 1920, it operates according to the same values and convictions that have guided the building and managing of its owner’s family assets for almost 900 years, across 26 generations: thinking and acting entrepreneurially; a long-term focus; openness to new developments and technologies; and a disciplined approach to risk and resources.

BNP Paribas Wealth Management operates across 17 countries, serving a client base of entrepreneurs, family offices and high net-worth individuals.

Caixabank Private Banking wins the award for best domestic private bank in Spain this year having demonstrated strong performance and launched important enhancements in many sectors.

Deutsche Bank Private Bank is building a focus on the most challenging customer segment of all: ultra-high net-worth individuals and family offices.

BNP Paribas Wealth Management shows “a strong dedication to enhancing the client experience through digital means, innovation and research”, according to the judging panel for this year’s private banking awards.

Societe Generale Private Banking, the wealth-management arm of Societe Generale, is a worldwide private bank with a strong European base. It had €140 billion of assets under management at the end of September 2023.

BNP Paribas has been relentlessly fine-tuning its secondary equities business in Europe for more than a decade. While the primary focus has been on reaching an affordable offering for institutional investor customers of its markets business, clients of the wealth-management business are now also benefiting.

In its home market, Deutsche Bank has expanded its leadership with high net-worth (HNW) customers, as well as with the ultra-high net-worth (UHNW) clients that are becoming a core focus in Germany, Europe and cross the globe.

The banks in each market that have excelled across a range of core private banking activities during the past 12 months.

Serving the next generation of wealthy individuals and family members is at the heart of everything Julius Baer does. The Swiss pure-play wealth manager is cognisant of the vast amount of wealth in the process of being handed from one set of family hands to the next; it sees this segment as a key vehicle for it to, in its words, “live out [its] purpose” and “create value beyond wealth”.

The wealth-management divisions of national-champion universal banks have won most of the regional private banking awards in Western Europe. But Lombard Odier offers a powerful reminder of the capabilities of a pure-play private bank, owned by its managing partners who follow a business model solely focused on managing their clients’ assets.

JPMorgan has been making a strong push in private banking in Europe, the Middle East and Africa over the past three years, substantially growing its numbers of advisers and clients, opening offices from Athens and Brussels to Copenhagen and Manchester, while taking advantage of its big technology budget to invest in new capabilities.

Few manage to do discretionary portfolio management better than Julius Baer today. The largest pure-play private bank by assets under management has been busy during its latest strategic cycle, which runs for three years through 2025.

BNP Paribas Wealth Management has been named Western Europe's best private bank for sustainability this year. One of the many factors supporting this decision is the banks’ ability to embed sustainability into all its product and services by prioritising portfolio assessment and the upskilling of its bankers.

BNP Paribas Wealth Management’s philanthropy solutions have been a noteworthy part of its wider positive impact offering since 2008. The firm aims to provide clients, free of charge, with proposals that fit each step of their philanthropic journey.

The award for the best international private bank in the Nordics and Baltics goes to JPMorgan Private Bank this year. Among other things, the US lender impressed the judging panel with the philanthropic commitments it has facilitated for clients in the region.

The banks in each market that have excelled across a range of core private banking activities during the past 12 months.

DNB Private Banking has been named this year’s best bank for family-office services in the Nordics and Baltics.

Nowadays, wealthy investors are not only looking for further insights and analytical expertise to guide them through uncertain markets but also for the ability to integrate non-financial preferences into their decision-making.

Carnegie Private Banking wins the Sweden’s best domestic private bank award for the second consecutive year for the growth, investment and development it has made across its private banking business.

Sustainability principles are embedded across all the private banking products and services offered by Formue, the Nordics and Baltics’ best private bank for sustainability this year.

Formue is this year’s winner for best bank for discretionary portfolio management in the Nordics and Baltics. Key to its success was the lender’s transition from a manually processed portfolio construction to an industry-leading portfolio and advice digital solution: Advent Genesis.

Amid strong competition between the region’s leading private lenders, Carnegie Private Banking is the judging panel’s choice for best private bank in the Nordics and Baltics this year. The bank has also been recognized in three other categories: family office services, investment research and ultra-high net-worth individuals.

Carnegie Private Banking is this year’s winner for best bank for ultra-high net-worth individuals in the Nordics and Baltics.

For its mix of global capability with local expertise and philanthropic efforts, JPMorgan wins the award for Sweden’s best international private bank.

OTP Private Banking is putting resources into sustainability and showing signs of progress in the area. At a group level, improved scores by several environmental, social and governance ratings agencies are testament to its improvements in the area recently. For example, it moved from a medium- to low-risk ranking by Sustainalytics.

OTP Private Banking says it has recently embarked on an overhaul of its discretionary portfolio management services. This involves redefining the workflow to reflect topical industry themes, such as the focus on environmental, social and governance, as well as the implementation of what it describes as revolutionary new front-office software and a focus on increasing client alpha.

OTP Private Banking’s approach to digital development and innovation is predicated on a regional approach, helping the firm benefit from its presence across central and eastern Europe.

UniCredit’s importance as a private bank in Central and Eastern Europe is particularly evident in its service offering for high net-worth individuals.

Chief executive Andrea Orcel has made it clear that Central and Eastern Europe remains at the heart of UniCredit, not least through the purchase of Greek lender Alpha Bank’s Romanian operations last year.

The banks in each market that have excelled across a range of core private banking activities during the past 12 months.

Over the past decade, OTP Group has grown as a regional bank in central and eastern Europe – even as other international banks have begun to retreat from the region. Listed in Budapest since 1995, the group now covers 12 countries, counting 17 million customers. Although it is headquartered in Hungary, it also considers itself a market leader in Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia in terms of the overall banking market, including retail.

While welcome, initiatives by the government and financial sector bodies designed to make it easier for companies to raise funds in the UK face a number of obstacles.

A wall of liquidity among investors has helped to drive a busy start to the year for bond issuers, as they rush to capture tight spreads.

The German lender’s decision to put its chips on southeast Asia is paying off handsomely. Under the leadership of Asia CEO Alexander von zur Mühlen, Deutsche Bank has doubled its capital in Vietnam and Indonesia, with more to come, moved a host of global roles to the region, and has seen Asean eclipse its India and China business in terms of growth and absolute numbers.

Asset managers and industry regulators face operational challenges around the tokenization of private assets.

Caution at local commercial banks – coupled with the eagerness of large investment banks to foster relationships with private equity players – means large real-estate deals fuelled by back leverage could be primed for a comeback in Europe.

Corporates seeking to leverage sustainable investment opportunities continue to be restricted by the lack of reliable data on which to base their assessments.

The Basel committee is shocked – shocked! – that some banks might be reporting inflated leverage ratios.

The UK startup is now a fully regulated bank and private funds are backing its vision to embed regulated banking in non-financial companies as well as fintechs.

With some big deals launching this week, Europe’s IPO pipeline is flowing at last. If they do well, they should put to bed the notion that ‘private IPOs’ are what is needed to provide exit routes for sponsors. A handful of recent deals shows that the biggest driver of success is doing the simple things well.

The UK Chancellor has big plans for the tech sector.

Thinner margins across the banking industry hit smaller banks harder. But investor pressures are also less of an issue for mutually owned lenders.

For a deeply unpopular government with little room to manoeuvre, the chance to bribe voters with a cheap offer of bank shares is irresistible. The bank in question is now well-run and profitable while its stock still trades at a discount. But the great NatWest share offer will do little to revive UK capital markets.

The UBS chief investment office’s sustainable and impact investing strategist wants to avoid measurement for the sake of measurement, but responding to client demand for more data while ensuring its readability remains a challenge.

The newest ESG trend in retail banking might be a niche offering for now, but all banks will have to take it seriously someday.

Leading commercial banks are focusing on their approach to relationship management to reassure corporate customers that they are being listened to.

There are sensible elements to CEO Slawomir Krupa’s plans for Societe Generale, but their communication needs attention.

In 2020, Deutsche Bank’s Asia chief, Alexander von zur Mühlen, placed more of his chips on fast-growing southeast Asia. As global firms diversify out of China, his prescience and willingness to deliver on his convictions is starting to pay off.

Investors and staff at Societe Generale are slowly starting to understand chief executive Slawomir Krupa’s brutally honest approach to the bank’s many challenges. Taking them with him as he embarks on his restructuring plan may prove a more delicate task.