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Central America and the Caribbean’s best bank: Banco Lafise

The economies of central America have been growing rapidly since the end of the pandemic. Some of this is the natural rebound of economic activity among countries that have outsized tourist sectors; and increased spending in this sector is one of the leading themes of the past couple of years.

July 19, 2024

Côte D’Ivoire

Societe Generale Côte d’Ivoire is again named the best bank in the country after a year in which profit before tax was up 32% at CFEFr120 billion ($42 million) from CFEFr91 billion in 2022. The bank has shown strong commitment to the Ivory Coast despite exiting other African markets such as the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania and Chad. Indeed, Societe Generale deputy CEO of the group Pierre Palmieri visited Abidjan last year to reinforce this.

July 19, 2024

Switzerland

Some analysts were quick to call it the deal of the century. The first takeover of a global systemically important bank that repeated management errors and regulatory failure had brought to the brink of collapse was a rescue by its domestic rival. It was a humiliation for Switzerland that, with customers pulling their money in vast quantities over several months, Credit Suisse was left to carry on to the very brink of insolvency.

July 19, 2024

Awards for Excellence

Asia’s best bank for SMEs: UOB

Singapore’s big lenders tend to dominate banking for small and medium-sized enterprises in Asia, and this year is no exception, with UOB beating its domestic rivals to this award.

July 19, 2024

Awards for Excellence

Asia’s best bank for corporate responsibility: Sampath Bank

There is so much to like about Sampath Bank’s approach to corporate responsibility. The Sri Lankan bank spent Rs91.3 million ($300,000) on all corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in 2023. That is small compared to the sums lavished on the space by bigger lenders. Yet the bank, which allocates 1% of net profit to projects that further environmental and social sustainability, manages to squeeze so much out of what it has to give.

July 19, 2024

Awards for Excellence

The world’s best bank for payments and treasury: HSBC

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

July 19, 2024

Romania

Romania was the place of perhaps the most important bank M&A deal to be announced in 2023: the merger of the local units of Italian group UniCredit and Greece’s Alpha Bank. The deal promised to allow UniCredit, as the owner of 90% of the merged entity, to supplant Societe Generale-owned BRD as the country’s third-biggest bank.

July 19, 2024

Botswana

First National Bank of Botswana delivered significant improvements in financial performance last year and made good progress in digital transformation, customer retention and social responsibility.

July 19, 2024

Angola

Banco Angolano de Investimentos (BAI) posted impressive financial results for 2023. Profit before tax stood at AKz220 billion ($250 million), almost double its 2022 result (AKz115 billion), and the bank achieved a return on equity of 36%, up from 26% the year before.

July 19, 2024

Vietnam

Techcombank further solidified its leadership in Vietnam’s banking sector in 2023. This has been driven by its five-year transformation journey focusing on investments in digital, data and talent under chief executive Jens Lottner, who took the helm in 2020.

July 19, 2024

Netherlands

By far the biggest bank by assets in the country and boasting nine million account holders, ING is also the best bank in the Netherlands this year.

July 19, 2024

UK

For HSBC, 2023 was an important year at its UK ring-fenced bank. This delivered its strongest set of results since it was created in 2018, with revenue coming in 36% higher than in 2022. That was in part thanks to higher rates and fat net interest margins, but also to key strategic decisions, such as to make growing market share in mortgages a priority.

July 19, 2024

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