The bank is leveraging all its resources to reach six million individuals by 2025. It is well on its way.

It is in difficult times that the best franchises prove their mettle. JPMorgan’s formidable corporate and investment bank – now bolstered through its integration of commercial banking – was the one to beat over the last year. No rival can match its breadth, but the firm’s rejection of complacency means that it never stops improving.

The bank is willing to spend its considerable technology budget on both exciting new ideas and on existing services that improve the lives of its customers.

The bank's ability to offer a full set of services almost everywhere around the globe sets it apart from the competition.

The French bank has made steady progress in this business over the last decade and last year was a strong period of new mandates and client expansion.

Andrea Orcel’s long-awaited debut as a bank chief executive has won over the markets, largely thanks to capital returns. But his plans for UniCredit go far beyond balance-sheet management and costs. He now sees a chance to demonstrate growth.

In tough markets, changes in banks’ market share can be particularly telling. Mergers and acquisitions had another down year in 2023, with total volume falling to $3.13 trillion, from $4.3 trillion in 2022, when rates first started rising, and $5.7 trillion in the post-Covid boom of 2021.

The bank has cleaned up its books, closed branches and improved its cost-to-income ratio. It also paid its first dividend since 2008.

Public-sector clients had to tackle rising rates and geopolitical uncertainty in 2023, while undergoing fundamental restructuring in their sector. HSBC was instrumental in guiding them through the uncertainty.

It is not enough to have the data, banks also need to bring intelligence and financial analysis to bear in sustainable finance to keep progressing.

The bank’s chief executive has led from the front to create an institution that is more diverse and better reflects the society in which it works.

The bank’s 10-year ScotiaRise programme has gone from strength to strength, reaching out to indigenous communities and aligning with its truth and reconciliation committee’s work.

Societe Generale has accelerated its transition and is using important mandates to convince its internal and external audiences alike.

After depositors fled the wreckage of the US regional banks in 2023 and customers started jumping overboard from a sinking Credit Suisse, even more banks could have been dragged into a systemic crisis. But UBS, rebuilt after the global financial crisis as a strong, sustainable and well-managed institution, responded to the rescue call from a fellow G-Sib. It rescued Switzerland as a financial centre, stopped the panic from spreading and struck a good deal for its own shareholders. Credit Suisse was not a gift. The integration will be tough. But UBS has got off to a good start and could soon relaunch its own growth story.

Few banks have navigated turbulent times so well, posting record revenues on the back of strong net inflows and rising markets.

The bank says it is succeeding with Open Account Automation, the first module of a long-term initiative to digitize trade finance through new platform CashPro Supply Chain Solutions.

The bank has made steady but still impressive improvement in its markets business over the last few years. And it was the firm among the 12 biggest to increase revenues in 2023.

The bank has become a global payments powerhouse, delivering innovation and outperformance.

As balance sheet pressures have intensified, Morgan Stanley has been at the forefront of a changing financial sector landscape.

Goldman is transforming its provision of research and insights to make it much easier for investors to form trade ideas.

The ability to work seamlessly across markets and asset classes paid off for the US firm in a challenging year.

With a chief executive pushing sustainable finance from the very top, HSBC is leading from the front in the global banking industry’s response to the climate emergency.

A regional SME champion shows how to operate on the world stage.

Focusing on its core strengths has helped Deutsche Bank serve corporate clients amid intense geopolitical, technological and environmental challenges.

Public-sector receptivity to innovation in sustainability and tokenization helped HSBC show the markets a glimpse of the future of bonds.

Citi’s securities services business has put in an excellent year both in terms of new business and digital innovation.

The growing weight of non-European markets speaks volumes about the Spanish bank’s EM capabilities as other global banks have headed for the exit.

From small-scale asset financing to innovative technologies, the French bank understands what a credible transition plan looks like.

The past year posed extraordinary financing challenges for the world’s corporates. However, the political and economic conditions they faced also created an opportunity for creative banks to thrive.

BNP Paribas has a well-earned reputation for steadiness and stability. In the past year, its chief executive, Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, has also reinforced his strategic credentials with the bank’s well-timed exit from its US retail business. Today, the bank stands as the eurozone leader on the global stage and is ready to play a pivotal role in the continent’s financial development.