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Reform in the Middle East, clearly, is not just about recent dynastic change. Across the Gulf, increasing budgetary constraints – thanks to the continued viability of shale oil and gas production, and the spread of renewable energy –underline the importance of economic diversification.

The winner in the transaction services category has put this business at the heart of its global strategy over the last two years to reduce reliance on lending revenue. In 2017, the success of this commitment could be seen in the Middle East – perhaps reflecting the fact that the banker leading this global reorientation in corporate and institutional banking, Simon Cooper, was previously chief executive of HSBC Middle East.

The award for best bank for sustainable finance, our new category, is designed to reward banks that have advanced the growth of green financing, financial inclusion and social financing – areas that should become increasingly important in mainstream banking.

Emirates NBD wins award for the Middle East’s best bank; Citi scoops regional investment banking category; winners demonstrate commitment to areas such as digital transformation, SME lending and corporate social responsibility across the region.

A list of winners of Euromoney’s Middle East Awards for Excellence 2018, as well as detailed citations for all of the winners, is available here.

A merger over a decade ago created what is in 2018 the Middle East’s best bank, Emirates NBD. In 2017, another merger created the region’s biggest bank. So far, the signs suggest FAB will be successful. But in 2018, the bank that wins best bank transformation is Commercial International Bank (CIB). CIB has made an impressive shift over the last decade and a half from its origins as a relatively small corporate-focused bank towards a sustainably profitable institution that offers international investors exposure to the Egyptian consumer story. Hisham Ezz Al Arab has been chairman and managing director throughout this period.

Wealth management remains a hotly contested field in Middle Eastern banking, especially as an ever-larger number of banks strive to enter Saudi Arabia, one of the most exciting markets in the region thanks to its many high net-worth individuals and growing openness to foreign financial institutions.

A rebound in equity issuance and the continued rise – from a high base – in DCM issuance, helped offset lower regional M&A volumes last year, as international yield hunters helped sovereigns and government-related entities offset the decline in petro-dollar flows.

Banks globally are increasingly aware of the need for a heightened sense of corporate social responsibility. Institutions in the Middle East are no exception.

Bahrain Best Bank

Advisory work in the Middle East has shifted away from big-ticket international M&A buy-outs towards helping governments implement their longer-term plans and financing strategies and helping regional corporates restructure their business models and liabilities in an era of lower growth and (perhaps) higher interest rates. Having set up a Dubai office in 2010, now under Rami Touma, Moelis & Co has emerged as preeminent in this new model of regional advisory. It is the region’s best advisory house in 2018.

Middle East investment banking volumes saw a tentative rebound in 2017, after a drop in 2016, suggesting that regional reform is already producing opportunities for deal makers, after the demise of the international sovereign buy-outs of the oil-boom era.