When David Vélez, co-founder and chief executive of Nubank, Latin America’s best bank, spoke to Euromoney in January 2021 he acknowledged just how powerful an engine the pandemic had been for the growth in digital banking. The Covid-19 lockdown led to such accelerated growth in new customer segments that the bank is seeing numbers that would have taken months or years to achieve in normal times.

Digital leadership and a client-centric business model made ING Bank Slaski an ideal partner for Poland’s SMEs during the first 12 months of the pandemic. Its ability to support clients and maintain growth during a time of market turmoil makes it the worthy winner of the award for CEE’s best bank for SMEs.

In a difficult year for M&A in central and eastern Europe, UniCredit once again leveraged its regional network, sectoral approach and careful market positioning to notch the largest number of announced deals in the 12 months to the end of March.

Despite strong showings from peers including BNP Paribas and Citi, HSBC’s strength in sustainable finance is deep rooted and hard to match. Jonathan Drew’s team lifts this award for the fourth consecutive year.

Nubank, Latin America’s best digital bank, is still very much in growth mode. Over the past year it has further built out from its credit card origins; current accounts have been added and the bank has acquired online investment platform Easynvest.

Covid has, unsurprisingly, dominated the corporate responsibility agenda at banks across Europe. A key determinant in this category was the effectiveness with which firms addressed the acute challenges that many of their clients have faced, from the initial healthcare emergency to longer-term financial distress. BBVA stepped up to the task promptly and at scale and takes the regional award this year.

Regional banks in Africa are developing internationally orientated and increasingly sophisticated transaction services platforms; often, as at Equity Bank, to service corporate and small and medium-sized enterprise clients trading across borders. Ecobank, meanwhile, is bolstering its business with partnerships including part-owners Qatar National Bank and Nedbank, as well as with regional telecoms companies and payments firms like Flutterwave.

In 2020 Citi added 11 new countries in Latin America to its digital onboarding platform, which now stands at 47 countries globally. Its global platform enables the US bank to provide unrivalled geographical breadth in its digitization efforts. Not only can the bank be more efficient itself – rolling out central innovations globally – but it also enables its multinational client list to embrace digital banking in most of the markets in which it operates.

Corporate responsibility is at the heart of what National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) does. It is hard to find worthy projects, causes and charities that the Manama-based lender is not involved in funding and furthering.

Jane Fraser, who took over as Citi’s chief executive on March 1, 2021, wasted no time in putting ESG at the top of the bank’s agenda. On her first day she announced the bank’s commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Nearly all banks talk about corporate responsibility, few make it integral to the way they work. What sets Bank of America apart is that it has been doing just that for years and this year it receives the award for North America’s best bank for corporate responsibility.

HSBC, with big operations in the UK and France as well as a presence on the ground in 20 markets across Europe, wins the award for the region’s best bank for small and medium-sized enterprises this year, against strong challenges from UniCredit and Santander.

Business diversification has proved to be a crucial asset for BNP Paribas over the past year. Relatively intact operations such as fixed income trading have provided vital props to its financial performance compared with local rivals that had made deeper cuts to those businesses pre-Covid. Post-pandemic the bank has become even more important as a financier to its western European clients. It has also moved earlier than other top-tier global banks to burnish its sustainability credentials.

When Euromoney met the head of retail banking at Ping An Bank, Xinfa Cai, in September 2019, he talked of his desire to hear his employer mentioned, in terms of its dedication to innovation and service, in the same breath as the likes Taobao and JD.com, two of China’s biggest and best digitally driven corporates.

The Middle East is a hard market in which to be truly sustainable, given the vast amount of money in the region that is tied to oil now and will be for some time.

Under the leadership of chief executive Rodolfo Tabash, BAC International has developed a regional response to the Covid-19 crisis, bringing together a multi-jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary committee to harmonize its response and ensure best practice is used throughout its Credomatic operations in central America.

DBS takes the award for Asia’s best bank for transaction services this year.

Early on in the coronavirus crisis, Credit Suisse’s senior management was instrumental in the design and implementation of Switzerland’s scheme of government-guaranteed loans. The scheme was so successful that other countries later moved to bring their programmes in line with it.

“During the first quarter our assets increased by 15% due to net new money, transaction revenues are up year over year 55%, our lending share has grown 25% compared to a year ago and our costs are down 1%,” says Ali Janoudi, head of Middle East and Africa for wealth management at UBS.

As Spain became one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus, Spanish banks were quick to pledge financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises.

“I think this crisis has shown why being with a firm focused on wealth management as a primary business and having a global perspective matters to clients,” says Tom Naratil, co-chief executive of UBS global wealth management (GWM) and president of UBS Americas.

Deutsche Bank’s commitment to Africa’s economic development began long before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, but the bank’s expertise in infrastructure and structured finance will be essential in supporting the continent’s recovery and in helping to address the long-term concerns holding back development.

The North American mergers and acquisitions advisory business has one obvious volume leader most years. This year is no different, but that doesn’t mean nothing else changes.

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of the Nigerian economy. A survey carried out in 2018 by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics estimated there are over 41 million firms with 199 employees or fewer in Nigeria, accounting for almost 50% of GDP. MSMEs provide almost 60 million jobs, equal to 86% of the national workforce.

CaixaBank’s response to the coronavirus crisis started with a recognition of the vital role of its physical network, which reaches more small and isolated communities than any other bank in Spain.

Prime Bank has barely paused during the Covid-19 crisis. The Dhaka-based bank was an early mover on coronavirus in south Asia, raising awareness of the pandemic among employees as early as January 30.

Singapore’s banks have dominated this award in recent years and for good reason. The super-stable city state boasts a trio of excellent lenders, all geared toward helping its army of small and medium-sized enterprises flourish.

Kazakhstan’s banks faced a difficult challenge in the first two months of the pandemic. When president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced a state of emergency on March 16, he also unveiled plans to provide a support payment of KT42,500 ($106) to all citizens economically affected by the pandemic.

HSBC retains its title as the Middle East’s best bank for transaction services for the second year running by stepping up to the challenge of helping customers trade and transact at a time of closed borders and supply-chain disruption.

Santander is Latin America’s best bank for small and medium-sized enterprises. Many banks have SME offerings but few, if any, use the segment so effectively as one of the fundamental drivers of its growth.