Western Europe

Deutsche employees who have recently been fired or face the axe will no doubt take comfort in the successes of fellow alumni such as Sajid Javid.

Digital-obsessed chief executive Ralph Hamers has pushed ING towards what is perhaps the biggest bank transformation in Europe. Can it become a model for how to build a globally competitive retail bank, straddling the continent’s fragmented markets?

For 22 years, he has led banking in Austria and across CEE at the helm of Erste Bank. Even as he nears retirement, he is pushing to transform Erste into a ‘financial health company’. Euromoney’s Banker of the Year for 2019 talks about this vision and how digital transformation is at its heart.

A larger than expected second-quarter loss shows Deutsche kitchen-sinking its 2019 results.

The FCA’s live market test facility has enabled a variety of capital markets-related fintech companies to test their business models and technologies in a controlled environment.

Negative yields on sub-investment grade bonds is a worrying development.

Digital overhauls at ING and Nordea will not tempt others to follow.

A recent survey states 92% of financial decision-makers have admitted to paying their suppliers late, but there are tech solutions to some of these issues – and it's about time they were adopted.

The Bank of England and Federal Reserve begin to build the bulwarks against Facebook's cryptocurrency Libra.

The field of contenders in the race to succeed Mark Carney as governor of the BoE is widening to include some unlikely names.

Don’t believe the doubters – the transition from fossil fuel to clean energy can be made, and made swiftly and profitably.

Christian Sewing has set the bank a difficult task of cutting businesses and costs yet growing revenues in the next three years; not everyone is convinced it can do both

Germany’s biggest bank wants to convince investors that its latest restructuring effort differs from previous attempts by returning the firm to its original mission.

Most UK SMEs applying for loans have their applications approved, raising worries that banks have loosened standards just as risk mounts.

The recent withdrawal of Stater Global Markets from the prime-of-prime broker market has underlined the need for providers to continue to prove their value to clients.

Cash borrowers want forward-looking reference rates to transition to after Libor and the market is struggling to come up with them.

US-dominated investors make it harder for good banks to shine through.

Benchmark reform may have received a lukewarm welcome from corporates, but treasurers would be well advised to quantify their Libor exposures to avoid nasty surprises during the transition to alternative overnight risk-free rates.

The central bank’s new ideas for how to modernize Britain’s financial system could eat into banks’ revenues, while helping them cut costs. For the wider economy, Brexit will still smother the intended fillip to small-business exporters.

Europe can build a more integrated system.

Lead by example.

The scourge of short termism.

The father of international finance in the 1960s.

Crossing bridges before you come to them.

For Euromoney's 50th anniversary issue, we picked out the six individual bankers that we believe define each of the decades of Euromoney’s existence. They are all giants of the industry. Their names transcend it.

Trade finance is gaining momentum as a securitized asset class – the resultant increased liquidity may offer corporates access to trade finance much more easily and quickly, especially as digital solutions streamline the process. Will SMEs, which have traditionally found it harder to access the market, be able to reap the benefits as well?

Everyone wants to buy green bonds but many issuers, concerned about cost and complexity, don’t want to sell them. Non-green issuers could be all too ready to fill the void.

Regulate big tech or deregulate banks.

Banking is a secondary need.

If you missed the US train, catch the one in China.