UBS has increased its investment and development of leading FX technology builds notably over the past three years, especially since its recent acquisition of Credit Suisse, with a number of significant innovations having been brought to market this year.

BestX, an independent entity within State Street's GlobalLink franchise, continues to be an industry-standard in FX and has significantly evolved its offering with a number of key initiatives.

State Street is a global powerhouse in FX and has positioned its research as a key differentiator in its market-leading sales offering. Over the review period, the bank introduced new measures for monitoring political risk and improved its capturing of changes in investor and central bank behaviour.

UBS’s acquisition of Credit Suisse boosted its capabilities in the Swiss FX market. Already a dominant player in Switzerland, the deal allowed the bank to offer a comprehensive range of FX services to a larger, more diverse client base. It also enabled it to deepen its expertise, particularly in the Swiss franc market, where client demand for specialized insights is growing.

UBS expanded its FX sales capabilities by leveraging cutting-edge tools and platforms to enhance operational efficiency and client engagement.

GlobalLink Digital, initially developed as a smart desktop for State Street's trading products, has evolved into a comprehensive, interoperable platform.

IndusInd Bank’s commitment to sustainable development is underscored by compelling data reflecting its impact in 2023. Sustainable finance now constitutes approximately 46% of the bank’s total lending, up from 43% in 2022 and a significant rise from 33% in 2018. In 2023, the bank’s green and climate finance advances amounted to Rs78.8 billion ($944 million), representing 2.72% of its total loans.

Sir Patrick Sergeant, the charismatic founder of Euromoney and legendary lynchpin of financial journalism, passed away on September 18 aged 100.

HSBC has demonstrated robust growth and innovation. It expanded its wealth-management offerings and enhancing support for high-tech and green financing. Its local head is Daniel Chan.

Hang Seng Bank has made robust progress with its efforts to expand its footprint and offering across the Greater Bay area.

At the beginning of 2024, Bank of China (Hong Kong) (BOCHK) rolled out several enhancements with Wealth Management Connect 2.0, including a 60% increase in available products, bringing the total to around 300 in the southbound connect. In addition, the bank also expanded the eligible product range in the northbound connect.

Bank of China (Hong Kong) has demonstrated a strong focus on advancing cross-border financial innovation in the Greater Bay Area.

The team at Mirae Asset Securities has long been a forward thinker. That skill came in particularly handy during the past year, when a high interest rate environment and global geopolitical uncertainties proved disruptive.

Huatai International takes the Euromoney award for best securities house in Hong Kong for 2024, thanks not just to its prowess across asset classes but also its ability to seamlessly collaborate with its onshore Chinese parent, Huatai United Securities, to execute deals and gain clients.

Huatai International’s equities business held its own in the past year, despite the Hong Kong market being in the doldrums and seeing a sharp fall in deal activity. Huatai managed to bag the fourth place among Chinese securities houses on the Hong Kong ECM bookrunning league table during Euromoney’s awards period, Dealogic data shows.

In the past year, OCBC Securities has made big headways on leveraging technology and digitalization to transform clients’ financial experience, becoming the natural choice for this Euromoney award.

OCBC Securities, led by managing director Wilson He, is Singapore’s best securities house for 2024, gaining plaudits for evolving with the times, staying on top of client needs, thinking out of the box and – importantly – finding its niche and dominating that.

With a roughly 9% DCM bookrunning market share during Euromoney’s awards period, AmInvestment Bank has a strong footing in Malaysia’s fixed income market and tight relationships with the largest corporates and government-backed entities.

Brazilian investment bank BR Partners has made big strides when it comes to embedding ESG principles into its core operations, particularly in risk management, making it Euromoney’s best securities house for ESG in Brazil this year.

Former credit trader Shikha Gupta discovers that a verbal contract isn’t worth the paper it is written on.

It is turning out to be an equities year for the big investment banks, as fixed income revenues fall or stall and fees from dealmaking recover slowly.

Its acquisition of Citi’s retail banking business in the Philippines has proven to be a challenge. It has put pressure on the bank’s capital buffers, while Citi’s high-end customers have shown a preference for international players.

Guidelines published by China’s cabinet pledged to boost the quality of its capital markets. But they neither understand nor trust the vibrant-yet-turbulent nature of that financial system.

BDO Unibank has worked on sustainable finance in the Philippines since 2010.

BDO Unibank, the Philippines’ largest bank, turned in an exceptional financial performance in 2023, cementing its position as the country’s best bank.

New transition bond includes step-down, as new ‘green infrastructure’ bond issued.

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

A report from Citi asks if Mexican banks must increase interest rates on their deposit base.

When Piyush Gupta was named chief executive of DBS in 2009, the Singapore lender was going nowhere in particular. He gave it drive and direction, buying assets around Asia and transforming it into the world’s best bank. A series of tech outages put him in the spotlight for the wrong reasons, but Gupta will leave DBS in March with his head held high and his legacy intact. His capable and charismatic successor Tan Su Shan, the first woman to run southeast Asia’s largest bank, has big shoes to fill.

New highways, bridges and tunnels make travelling in Mumbai easier than it has been in decades. A new metro line is set to open in late 2024, but the city can still be gruelling to navigate. If it wants to be a global financial hub, there is still so much more to do.