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Results index In recent years it had begun to feel as if Latin America was experiencing a kind of internal continental drift. In the north, the countries were pulling away and out to the Pacific, bound by aspirations for the free market disciplines of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Pacific Alliance, in sharp contrast with the political disunity and economic stasis of the aging Mercosur bloc. However, 2015 was the year that this changed: Colombia struggled as falling oil prices highlighted a weak fiscal base; Mexico continues to frustrate largely due to political risk; and Peru and Chile were subdued as Asian export markets struggled and inward investment slumped.

Results index In digital banking, traditional lenders across Europe are staving off new competition in areas such as payments and foreign exchange – while low rates, low growth and high regulatory costs make a branch network harder to sustain. Whether it is investing in new app-only banks like Atom and imaginBank – or in BBVA’s case, its own digital payments firm – banks are rising to the challenge. Lloyds’ decision to invest £1 billion in digital banking by 2017 is a sign of how seriously they are taking this.

A list of winners of Euromoney’s Latin America, Central America and Caribbean Awards for Excellence 2016, as well as detailed citations for all of the winners, is available here

The inexorable rise of Banka Kombetare Tregtare (BKT) continued in 2015, as the Turkish-owned bank overtook long-standing market leader Raiffeisen Bank to become Albania’s largest lender. By the end of 2015, BKT’s share of the overall loan market had risen to 19.6% on the back of year-on-year portfolio growth of 9.1%, while that of its Austrian rival had dropped to 18.9%. Raiffeisen’s deleveraging was partly driven by a reduction in risk appetite on the part of the parent group, but high levels of legacy bad debts also weighed on growth and profitability.

Euromoney names BNP Paribas as the world’s best bank and HSBC the world’s best investment bank for 2016; BBVA’s Francisco González is banker of the year and completes a great night for Europe.

The world’s banks are doing more than pay lip service to corporate social responsibility. But they need to go further and make their commitment part of the fabric of each institution.

Results index One increasingly important way for banks to differentiate themselves is through their corporate social responsibility activities, which helps to bind banks to their local communities and build and retain customers in those regions. Lafise Bancentro’s innovative and effective One Laptop Per Child charitable organization has previously been recognized by Euromoney. The programme continues to evolve from the original concept, launched in 2009, to provide central American children with better educational opportunities. This evolution is the reason Lafise Bancentro wins the award for the region’s best bank for CSR.

Results index Nigeria’s economy has struggled over the past year. The country’s new president Muhammadu Buhari has had to deal with the financial impact of low oil prices, systemic corruption and the terrorist group Boko Haram. But one Nigerian bank, Access Bank, has continued its long-term transformation from small financial institution to big player, despite the odds, winning our best bank transformation award this year.

It’s steady as she goes at Citi, as the universal bank maintains unrivalled cross-border market share and product complexity

Don’t commit capital to unprofitable clients? Check. Try to increase wallet share with core clients? Check. Find you’re covering the exact same group of clients as 10 other global firms? You’d better check.

Results index In digital innovation, however, no bank in the US can touch BBVA Compass, which wins the award for North America’s best digital bank. Whereas large domestic banks have pushed back against disrupters, BBVA Compass exemplifies what can happen when a bank embraces them. That journey began more than five years ago when the bank began overhauling its core technology system into a real-time platform, making it among the first to implement real time processing. It was almost unheard of for US banking customers to have that level of transparency and control, but then BBVA Compass took it to a new level: it opened its platform to digital innovators. As a result, customers of BBVA Compass can send and receive funds instantly through Dwolla rather than wait for Automated Clearing House.

Results index In investment banking in this region, Citi’s historic business and corporate ties to the area have long given it an advantage in capturing the lion’s share of central America’s sporadic international capital markets transactions. The bank is increasingly successful in leveraging its corporate clients that it retains through its cash management business.