The financial inclusion skills within the bank are becoming more relevant for broader retail banking.

The firm’s strategic focus on mid-market transactions gave it a critical advantage in a banner year for M&A.

Investments in new industry sub-sectors have given Goldman Sachs’ financial institutions franchise a new growth engine.

New layers on strong foundations have built enduring success in digital for the US firm.

The Malaysian bank has a number of programmes to help the underprivileged across nine countries.

The drive to make finance sustainable relies on robust data. This is something that the French bank has been working on for a decade.

HSBC has long dominated global trade finance but has also been at the forefront of digital innovation this year.

Under the leadership of Brian Moynihan, Bank of America has become the poster child for stakeholder capitalism in banking. Shareholders benefit; previous strong underwriting and ample liquidity enabled it to grow loans strongly in the pandemic recovery; and management is confident it can weather the coming downturn.

DBS has taken the boldest step yet in digital DCM, encouraging corporate and financial borrowers to self-issue commercial paper direct to investors. Volumes are strong. The next step, longer-dated bonds, will come soon.

Network and scale make all the difference in a business where cost pressure is intense.

Unbeatable data drives everything behind CashPro, and the platform drives payments and treasury at Bank of America in turn.

The bank’s commitment to Asia’s frontier markets is yielding strong results.

The Singapore-based lender has established a new benchmark for SME banking

The Spanish group’s retail footprint makes it uniquely qualified to address unbanked, underbanked and financially vulnerable individuals.

In a period of unprecedented volatility and disruption, Goldman Sachs has led the field in innovative financing solutions for clients.

A flurry of new services, including DBS Digital Exchange and Climate Impact X, have kept the Singaporean lender in pole position.

A firm famous for its elite connections, aggressive corporate culture and extreme working hours might not seem an obvious candidate for this award, but it is the right one.

Diversification and a more relationship-focused approach to clients helped Goldman Sachs grow its markets business more than any of its big rivals over the awards period.

The French bank’s innovative and collaborative approach to data is central to its sustainable finance strategy.

It’s a sign of a well-run bank when it not only survives a pandemic largely unscathed but uses it as an opportunity to gain ground. Characteristically, DBS’s Piyush Gupta not only kept the bank on course but used the crisis to make two potentially transformative acquisitions, launch two new exchanges and think afresh about what banking should look like.

In a year when the race to net zero really got under way, biodiversity protection rose to the top of the agenda and Covid exacerbated the need for social support, one bank stood out for innovation, breadth of coverage and rigorous use of data

Bank of America’s integrated and pioneering approach to corporate responsibility has paid off again this year.

The firm leads in big, transformational M&A and sees advising on the sell side of Spac mergers as a hedge if regulators crack down on mega-deals.

Technology keeps BofA at the vanguard of payments. Covid-19 drove both deposits and innovation at the US bank.

Euromoney’s inaugural award for innovation goes to a groundbreaking issue of digital native tokens on a public blockchain in a syndicated bond deal that drew interest from 100 investors. While institutional money flows into crypto and DeFi, leading banks and issuers are now also keen to transform traditional markets with digital assets and digital cash.

Renowned for its prudence and conservatism, the bank was in a strong position going into the pandemic. Investment in digital banking and risk management make it well placed to thrive once the crisis is over.

The great financial innovator shone again in global wealth management.

In a tough year, quality and quantity mattered to the public sector. BNP Paribas offered both.

After merging with Bankia, CaixaBank has become the undisputed champion of Spanish retail banking. At a time when the sector is facing profound challenges, it’s already on the way to realizing crucial cost savings. Euromoney talks to executive chairman José Ignacio Goirigolzarri and chief executive Gonzalo Gortázar about this transformational merger.

The US bank has turned pandemic-inspired strategic conversations with companies into mandates.