Covid has been a tough time for junior private bankers. Instead of learning on the job, most have been stuck at home. The best banks have mentor systems and training programmes, but nothing can replace real face time with seniors and building trust with clients over a glass of wine.

HSBC’s head of global private banking in China, Jackie Mau, explains the lender’s onshore ambitions, the future of Wealth Connect, plans for new offices and how and why China differs from other private wealth markets.

The next decade will be one of exceptional value creation in the birthplace of private banking. European entrepreneurs are handing the reins of mid-sized Mittelstand firms to the next generation, while others sell out to global investors and venture capital firms.

Ravi Raju has hired some seasoned names and is extending the bank’s reach into south Asia and the Middle East.

A quiet battle is under way in private banking to hire trusted, super-talented and increasingly well-paid relationship managers. It is tricky and expensive, and it’s pushing salaries ever higher. As the power and prestige of wealth management grows, finding and keeping talent is one of the most important challenges that all banks face.

Citi’s global head of private banking Ida Liu sits down with Euromoney to discuss her journey to the top of the industry, the value of wellbeing and the importance of eliminating friction from client engagement.

A city packed with private banks is quietly serving the needs of a large and wealthy part of northern Germany, yet it remains generally unnoticed as a wealth management powerhouse.

Itaú’s Argentinian firm is its smallest. Nevertheless, innovation in its retail segment could be a game-changer in the country – and potentially the region.

A stellar period for the independent investment bank, including its largest-ever acquisition, has set the scene for a strong future, according to CEO Scott Beiser. Its relentless focus on the mid-cap arena and its naturally hedged balance of businesses have created a firm that has quietly become one of the biggest advisory names in the world.

The float of LIC will shatter all of India’s records in the equity capital markets. It is also an opportunity to prove a newfound maturity in India, already illustrated by a range of highly successful tech deals in 2021.

Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are muscling in on the booming market for private share trading – and potentially disrupting existing technology platforms.

Non-bank lenders are offering growing volumes of embedded finance both wholesale to merchants selling on e-commerce marketplaces and to their retail customers.

In his first year as chief executive, Andrea Orcel has backed out of a deal to buy Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena and prioritized capital distributions at UniCredit. However, his flirtation with an acquisition in Russia has shown that the bank can still raise eyebrows. Orcel talks to Euromoney about the bank’s biggest opportunities and how M&A can help realize them.

Citi’s decision to withdraw from consumer banking in Mexico demonstrates the extent to which fintech players have transformed this market. How prepared are the other incumbents to take on the competition?

Analysts see augmented reality creating new economies worth trillions of dollars in the metaverse, where people are already spending real money on virtual real estate and will want to spend virtual earnings in the real world.

Early in the Covid crisis, CACIB avoided the big equity derivatives losses its local rivals suffered. Chief executive Jacques Ripoll tells Euromoney how the bank plans to take advantage of the rise of sustainable finance, which plays to its long-standing expertise in infrastructure and energy.

The scrutiny of sustainable finance is expected to intensify over the year as stakeholders look for market participants to deliver on environmental promises.

As legacy banks plough billions into fintech, their valuations – especially compared to standalone fintech players – are far from seeing the desired benefit. Spin-offs and subsidiary IPOs are part of a growing push to make these fintech investments more independent and visible, and to force a sum-of-parts valuation. Is the answer to restructure into a listed financial holding company, of which the legacy bank would just be one part?

Covid barely dented the strength of the banking system and most banks have been steadily releasing the provisions they took. Euromoney talks to the leaders of our 25 reviewed banks and others about the challenges they face as the world normalizes.

It is more important than ever that banks get China right. Senior executives from the Euromoney 25 discuss what to expect in 2022 as the world’s second-largest economy enters a period of more stable growth.

A longstanding pioneer in illiquid and private assets, Australia’s Future Fund has found itself well placed for an uncertain and yieldless world. It got here by being able to adapt to changing conditions and CIO Sue Brake knows there is plenty more of that to come.

Global supply-chain bottlenecks have profound implications for how and where companies will fund their operations in the future. As the lines of ships lengthen outside ports, there’s a macroeconomic cost for banks weighing on loan demand and perhaps asset quality. However, some trade and logistics financing businesses that were previously on the margins of banking are now seizing their moment.

The tie up between Masraf Al Rayan and Al Khalij Commercial Bank could be the first of many as cost cutting and profitability top the banking agenda.

The transition of most of the global financial markets away from Libor and the adoption of risk-free rates is finally upon us. As the clock counts down to the demise of Libor for all new contracts, the focus is firmly on where the sticking points remain: the ‘tough legacy contracts’ and the US dollar loan market.

The whole world must deal with Libor transition, but the situation is especially complex in Asia. Each jurisdiction has a different approach to benchmarks, and several countries are going to end up with multiple rates. On top of that there are big questions about liquidity. So, is Asia ready?

The Peronist playbook is back in force: Argentina’s monetization of fiscal deficits relies on the banking system buying central bank and government securities. This time around the movie has a new subplot: credit growth in both the corporate and retail sectors is increasingly taking place outside the traditional banking sector.

Ahmed Abdelaal is the first non-Ghurair family member to lead Mashreq Bank. His first two Covid-marred years in charge as chief executive were a baptism of fire, but he has hired well and decisively, putting in place a cosmopolitan management team that is transforming the Dubai-based lender.

Banco Pan’s turnaround has taken another step forward with its acquisition of ecommerce platform Mosaico. Chief executive Carlos Eduardo Guimarães talks to Euromoney about the importance of growth with profitability.

Central banks have dominated financial markets through years of interest-rate repression that inflated bond and equity valuations. Suddenly inflation, running at highs not seen for decades, threatens all this. Do central banks have the credibility and capacity to cope with the monster from the 1970s that has returned with a vengeance?

Earlier this year HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn pledged $6 billion of investment in Asia – half of it outside Greater China. Having recognized he can do so much more in southeast Asia and India, how will he achieve this?