1   (left to right) Societe Generale’s Andrew Menzies, Global Head of DCM, Thierry d’Argent, CEO of the London Branch, and Natalie Lemarcis, Managing Director and Head of Origination and Advisory – Europe Energy Group accepting the World’s Best Bank for Sustainable Finance Award for 2024 from Joseph Giarraputo, Global Finance’s Founder and Editorial Director.

 2   CIBC’s team collecting the global awards for Best Bank for Sustainable Bonds and Best Bank for Green Bonds for 2024 from Global Finance’s Joseph Giarraputo.

 3   Hyung Il Kim, Deputy CEO of Industrial Bank of Korea accepting the Best Bank for ESG-Related Loans globally for 2024.

 4   Monika Mezei, ESG Senior Advisor for OTP Bank addressing the audience in acceptance of the 2024 Best Bank for Sustainability Transparency globally. 

 5   Bank Pekao’s Jerzy Kwiecinski, Deputy CEO (left) and Dieter Lobnig, Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking (right) accepting the Best Bank for Green Bonds, Best Bank for Transition/Sustainability Linked Bonds and Best Bank for Sustainable Finance in Central and Eastern Europe for 2024 from Global Finance’s Joseph Giarraputo (middle). 

6   Izlem Erdem, Deputy CEO and Sustainability Leader for Isbank accepting the Best Bank for Sustaining Communities in Central and Eastern Europe.

 7   Bank of China’s team collecting the Best Bank for Sustainable Bonds, Best Bank for Sustainable Infrastructure Finance and Best Bank for Transition/Sustainability Linked Bonds in Asia-Pacific for 2024.

 8   Gustavo Brianza, Managing Director (left) and Caroline Haas, Head of Climate and ESG Capital Markets (right) of NatWest accepting the Best Bank for Sustainable Finance Award in United Kingdom from Joseph Giarraputo, Founder and Editorial Director (middle) of Global Finance.

 9   Emirates NBD Capital’s Carlo de Vos, Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking receiving the global awards for Best Investment Bank in Emerging Markets and Best Investment Bank for Client Facing Technology in 2024.

10   Alex Pallin, Head of Equity Sales in London for Bradesco BBI accepts the award for new category The Best Investment Bank for Infrastructure Finance in Latin America, as well as three other awards.

11   Chapel Hill Denham’s Lanre Buluro, Managing Director Capital Markets (left) and Richard Rothwell, Director (right) collecting the Best Equity Bank in Africa award for 2024.

12   Paul McDonald, CEO QNB UK, accepting the 2024 Best Investment Bank in Qatar award.

13   Abdullah AlHaddad, Chief Investment Banking Officer for KFH Capital receiving the 2024 Best Investment Bank in Kuwait award.

14   Al Ahly Pharos’ Ahmed Salem, Group CEO and MD (left) and Ahmed Heider, CEO and MD of Investment Banking (right) collecting the Best Investment Bank in Egypt for 2024.

15   Bassem Boustany, Deputy Managing Director and Head of Business at National Bank of Kuwait accepting the Best Bank for ESG-Related Loans award for 2024.

Global Finance held its 25th annual Best Investment Bank and the Sustainable Finance awards at Searcy’s in London on April 30th.

The awards ceremony brought together attendees from across the globe at the iconic Gherkin on St. Mary’s Axe in the heart of the City of London. Societe Generale was awarded the World’s Best Bank for Sustainable Finance and clickthrough for highlights from a fantastic evening celebrating the institutions pushing the agenda for sustainability financing and investment banking activity globally.

1.  National Commercial Bank Jamaica: (L to R) Karrian Hepburn-Malcolm, Head of Wealth; Audrey McIntosh, Head of Private Banking

2.  Banque Richelieu Monaco: Thomas Lhuillier, CEO

3. Bradesco Global Private Bank: (L to R) Alexandre Sylvestre, Senior Credit Manager; Joseph D. Giarraputo, Global Finance; Roberto Schwartz, Head of Bradesco New York

4.  Schoellerbank: Viktoria Polzl, Relationship Manager, European Corporates, Americas

5.  Banco Popular Dominicano: Marisol Muñoz, Head of Private Banking

6.  Bank Pekao: (L to R) Jaroslaw Fuchs, Director Private Banking; Katarzyna Tomaszewska, Managing Director; Michael Waleczak, COO Head of Strategy & Development

7. Agshin Mirzazadeh, Chief Officer Private Banking, Pasha Bank

8. Lee Soyong, Relationship Manager, Hana Bank; Joseph D. Giarraputo, Founder and Editorial Director, Global Finance; Woo Hyangju, Relationship Manager, Hana Bank

9. (L to R) Mary Ellen Reilly, Managing Director, Investmentment Manager and Trust and Chief Fiduciary Officer, Fifth Third Private Bank; Joseph D. Giarraputo, Founder and Editorial Director, Global Finance; Lori Frischer, Managing Director, Shared Services, Investment Advisers, and Institutional Services, Fifth Third Private Bank

10.  (L to R) Dulce Chicon, Vice President, Latin America & The Caribbean, Global Finance; Idowu Thompson, Head of Private Banking, First Bank Nigeria; Folake Ani-Mununey, Group Head Marketing, First Bank Nigeria

11. (L to R)  Rafael Algarra Jr., Vice President Private Banking, EastWest; Karrian Hepburn-Malcolm, Head of Wealth, National Commercial Bank Jamaica; Venkatesh Kommineni, President, 360One Wealth; Audrey McIntosh, Head of Private Banking, National Commercial Bank Jamaica; Richard Tamayo, Senior Vice President, Wealth Management, EastWest

12. JP Morgan Group: The team from JP Morgan Private Bank accepts their award for Best Private Bank in the World. Joseph D. Giarraputo, Founder and Editorial Director, Global Finance (C), Rosa Rita, Global Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Business Intelligence, JP Morgan Private Bank (L)

Industrial Bank Korea launched the first ESG loan in Korea in and has been supporting SMEs transition to sustainable business through several innovative products that has seen them selected as best bank for sustainable finance in South Korea, best bank for social bonds in Asia-Pacific and Best bank for ESG-related loans in the regional and globally in 2024.

1  BTG Pactual Empresas’ Dany Gregory (l), Director SME Digital Retail Unit and Gabriel Motomura (c), Partner and Co-Head receiving the World’s Best SME Bank and the Best SME Bank in Latin America awards from Global Finance founder and editorial director, Joseph Giarraputo (r).

2  Martin Pechoucek, Head of Business Development at CSOB receiving the Best SME Bank in Central and Eastern Europe award for 2024.

3  Arab Bank’s Chief Executive Officer for Europe, Haytham Kamhiyan, collecting the 2024 Best SME Bank in the Middle East award.

4  Ecobank’s Carol Oyedeji, Group Executive Commercial Banking, accepting the award for Best SME Bank in Africa.

5  Malgorzata Sosnowska, Managing Director SME & Commercial Clients Line at BNP Paribas Bank Polska, receiving the Best SME Bank in Poland award.

6  Mete Uluyurt, Managing Director Isbank London collecting the Best SME Bank in Turkey award for 2024.

7  Citi Velocity’s team receiving 2024 World’s Best Digital FX Platform, Best Execution Algorithms, Best Data and Analytics Platform and Best Big-Picture View of Positions awards.

8   Investec’s team receiving the 2024 World’s Best FX trading platform and Best Foreign Exchange Bank in Ireland awards.

9  Remy Covarel (l), Head of Sales Emerging Markets, and Olivier Carrolaggi (r), Regional Director, EMEA, Emerging Markets at Corpay, receiving awards as the Best FX for Payments Solution and Most Innovative Non-Bank for FX.

10   Ibai Urra Magallon (l), Managing Director and Global Head of Transactional FX, and Francisco Javier del Portillo Elordi (c), Head of FX Corporate Sales at BBVA, accepting the 2024 award as World’s Best FX Bank for Corporates. 

11   Joao Leal, Business Strategy and Management at Santander, collecting the 2024 award as World’s Best FX Bank for Emerging Market Currencies.

12   Al Rajhi’s Abdulrahman Alajaji, General Manager, Treasury Group, receiving the Best FX Bank in the Middle East award.

13   Marc Viakovski, Head of Flow Trading London Global Markets at Rand Merchant Bank, accepting the Best FX Bank in Africa award. 

14   Paul Fuller (l), Head of Treasury at National Bank of Kuwait, collecting the Best Foreign Exchange Bank in Kuwait for 2024.

15   Vietinbank’s Nguyen Duc Thanh (l), Dam The Trung (c) and Nguyen Manh Khoi (r) collecting the Best Foreign Exchange Bank in Vietnam award.

16   Hana Bank’s team accepting the Best Foreign Exchange Bank in South Korea award from Global Finance’s Joseph Giarraputo.

17   Lie Lam, Executive Director, Treasury and Markets at DBS, receiving the Most Innovative Bank for FX award for 2024.

18   Banco de Credito del Peru’s Adip Numa (l), Head of Sales and Trading, and Marco Merino (c), Head, FX Trading, accepting the 2024 awards as Peru’s Best Foreign Exchange Bank and its Best SME Bank.

1   Gunther Blum, Vice President at BNY Mellon accepting the World’s Best Trade Finance Bank award.

 2   Citi’s Katherine Earl, Director, Trade and Working Capital Solutions Head Germany, Austria & Benelux and Global Sector Lead for Mobility collecting the World’s Best Supply Chain Finance Bank award.

 3   Wendy Ravensbergen, Director of Major Accounts Europe at Finastra receiving the World’s Best Trade Finance Provider Non-Bank award.

 4.   Credit Agricole’s Roland Schlich (left), Head of International Trade and Transaction Banking Germany/Austria and Guido Berning (right), Director Trade & Export Finance, Germany & Austria accepting the World’s Best Bank for Export Finance award.

 5   Pablo Ballesteros (left), Global Head of Trade Solutions and Maria Alvarez (right), Executive Director and Global Head of Europe Financial Institutions at Santander collecting the World’s Most Innovative Bank for Trade Finance award.

 6   Bank ABC’s Jeroen Reyes, VP, Regional Trade Finance, Group Transaction Banking accepting the Best Trade Finance Provider in the Middle East award.

 7   Esther Galiana, Global Head of Financial Institutions at BBVA receiving the Best Trade Finance Provider in Latin America award.

 8   Martina Zimmerl-Egger, Head of Trade Finance at Raiffeisen Bank International collecting the Best Trade Finance Provider in Central and Eastern Europe award.

 9   Arab Bank’s Rula Refai, Financial Institutions Area Head, accepting the Best Trade Finance Provider in Jordan award.

10  Jerzy Kwiecinski (left), Vice President of the Management Board and Piotr Stolarczyk (right), Director of International Banking and Trade Finance Department for Bank Pekao accepting the Best Trade Finance Provider in Poland award.

11  Peter Grevendonk, Head of Trade Finance at Belfius receiving the Best Trade Finance Provider in Belgium award. 

12  (Left to right) Hana Bank’s Alexander Frey, Member of the Management Board, Okhee Ha, Assistant Manager, Richard Scholtz, Managing Director EMEA (Global Finance), Jongbae Lee, Relationship Manager and Soojin Lee, Assistant Manager collecting the Best Trade Finance in South Korea award.

13  Standard Chartered’s team collecting multiple country awards at the Best Trade Finance and Supply Chain Finance awards ceremony.

14  Kaylee Karumanchi, Vice President, Product Manager, Global Trade at Bank of America accepting the Best Supply Chain Finance Provider in North America.

15  PNC’s Kristin Francis (left), Vice President and Angel Spanos (right), Advisor collecting two U.S. Regional awards as the Best Trade Finance Provider in Mid-Atlantic and Southwest regions.

16  Dimitrios Ntalianis, Managing Director at LiquidX receiving the World’s Best Trade Document Management award.

17  Srimanta Bhuyan, Director Application Development at Surecomp accepting the World’s Best Trade Finance Software Provider award. 

The venue, former headquarters of Lloyds Bank, is a unique art-deco landmark in the heart of London, with stunning views of the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England.

The ceremony gathered more than 120 digital banking division leaders, CEOs and other senior executives from around the globe to catch up on trends, share insights, and honor the regional and global winners in person.

1   Citi’s team collecting the World’s Best Digital Bank Award for 2023 from Chris Giarraputo (middle), Director of Operations and Digital Bank Project Lead at Global Finance alongside multiple award wins across countries, regions and globally.

2   Tony Yang, President and CEO of CTBC Bank addressing the audience in acceptance of The World’s Best Consumer Digital Bank Award for 2023.

3    Abdullah AlMejhem, Chief Consumer and Private Banking Officer for Boubyan Bank receiving the World’s Best Islamic Digital Bank and The Best Islamic Digital Bank in the Middle East Awards for 2023.

4    National Bank of Kuwait’s Chief Executive Officer Salah AlFulaij (left) and Chief Executive Officer Consumer and Digital Banking Mohammed AlOthman (right) collecting the 2023 World’s Most Innovative Consumer Digital Bank Award from Chris Giarraputo (middle), Director of Operations and Digital Bank Project Lead, Global Finance.

5    Supreecha Limpikanjanakowit, First Senior Vice President, Integrated Channels and Business Solutions Division at KASIKORNBANK accepting the World’s Best in Consumer Social Media Marketing and Services award for 2023.

6   Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Isbank Sezgin Lule collecting the 2023 World’s Best Consumer Mobile Banking App.

7   Joseph Chow York-wai (left), General Manager London branch and Tianwei XU (right), Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Bank of East Asia accepting the World’s Best UX Design award 2023.

8   Bank of Georgia’s Tsira Loladze (left), Group Product Owner, Tamar Nikoleishvili (middle), Head of Digital Banking Service Quality Management and Luka Kobalia (right), Group Product Manager of BOG App and iBank receiving the World’s Best Bill Payment and Presentment and The World’s Best Corporate/Institutional Mobile Banking App awards for 2023.

9   Stewart Boyd, Country CEO of DBS Bank collecting The 2023 World’s Most Innovative Corporate/Institutional Digital Bank award.

10  Eurobank’s Georgios Koulouris (left), Head of Digital Services for Business and Olga Haralabidis (right), Head of Group Digital Channels accepting the Best Consumer Digital Bank in Western Europe award for 2023.

11  Maria Alves (left), Head of UX and Lucille De Kock, Business Solutions Head: FNB Banking App at First National Bank receiving the 2023 Best Consumer Digital Bank in Africa award.

12  Mohamed Aly, Managing Director and CEO of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Egypt collecting The Best Mobile Banking Adaptive Site in Egypt and Best Trade Finance Services in Egypt awards for 2023.

13  OTP Bank’s team accepting multiple awards across categories for Hungary at the 2023 Best Digital Bank awards ceremony. 

14  Manish Malhotra, VP Financial Services, EMEA at Infosys – judging partner of the 2023 Best Digital Bank Awards addressing the audience.

15  Comarch team, sponsor of the Corporate/Institutional segment of the 2023 Digital Bank Awards Ceremony
this year

The annual Global Finance Stars of China awards ceremony took place on November 28 at the Pan Pacific Beijing Hotel in Beijing. The gathering marked a return to in-person awards events after a few years of virtual ceremonies due the pandemic, with Global Finance Founder and Editorial Director Joseph D. Giarraputo appeared via video feed from New York. The event recognises the 2023 Stars of China, financial institutions that excelled in innovation, product development and service for corporate and retail clients. The awards ceremony took place in tandem with the China Global Trends Conference, where the magazine’s EMEA Managing Director Richard Scholtz delivered remarks in person to a crowd of China’s leading-edge corporate and financial executives.

1. Tan Zhihui, Senior Manager Personal Digital Banking Department at Bank of China Private Banking collecting the Best Private Bank for Entrepreneurs 2023.

 2. Cassie Zhou, Deputy Head of Information Release Division, Information Management Department, ICBC receiving the 2023 Best Corporate Bank Award.

 3. China Construction Bank’s Zhang JianHui, Public Relations Department Deputy Senior Manager accepting the 2023 best Bank for Corporate Social Responsibility.

 4. Leo Shen, General Manager of China Zheshang Bank accepting the 2023 Most Innovative Bank award.

 5. Yu Jin, head of General Administration Division, Global Finance Department, ICBC, receiving the Best Domestic Bank for Belt and Road for 2023 award.

 6. Daming Cheng, Managing Director, Business Development Committee, Investment Banking Department at CICC collecting the 2023 Best Bank for Green Bonds and Best SME Services Bank awards.

 7. Tracy Yu, Deputy General Manager, Transaction Banking Department, China Merchants Bank receiving the Best Bank for Transaction Services 2023

 8. Postal Savings Bank’s Zhao Xiaodan, Deputy General Manager, Personal Banking Department accepting the Best Consumer Bank for 2023 award.

 9. Meng Meng, Assistant to the General Manager of the Financial Institutions Department, Sino-Russia and Cross-border Finance Department for Harbin Bank collecting the 2023 Best Domestic Bank for Renminbi Internationalization award.

10. Private Banking Department Senior Manager, Family Wealth Management Division, Xu Meng of Bank of Communications receiving the Most Innovative Private Bank for 2023 award.

11. ICBC’s Jing Wu, Deputy Head of Mergers and Acquisition Division, Investment Banking Department collecting the 2023 Best Bank for M&A award.

12. Yu Yang, Transaction Banking Department Senior Supervisor at China Guangfa Bank, accepting the Most Advanced Trading Technology.

Global Finance hosted its annual Transaction Banking Awards ceremony alongside the annual Sibos conference held in Toronto this year. Ideas driving the discussion at the September event included improving transaction transparency, adopting data standards for corporates, digital asset servicing and enhancing efficiency with artificial intelligence.

The Global Finance ceremony at the University Club in Toronto provided an opportunity to celebrate in person the achievements of those winning our 2023 awards for Best Transaction Banking, Best Sub-custodians and Best Treasury & Cash Management Providers. Leaders in relevant banking divisions—transaction banking, global securities services, cash management, and more—attended with other senior executives from 47 organizations worldwide. Congratulations to all the winners! 

From all over the world, leaders from the financial institutions breaking new ground in sustainable finance and investment banking in 2023 gathered at London’s Glaziers Hall. Built in 1808, it was an apt spot for honoring green banking: The venue’s commitment to sustainable management has earned it a Gold Award from Green Tourism. Congratulations to all our winners.

1. Amit Puri, Global Head of Sustainable Finance at Standard Chartered accepting the Global Award for Outstanding Leadership in Sustainable Finance for 2023.

2. Bank of America’s Alexandra Basirov, Head of EMEA Sustainable Finance Solutions Group, Global Corporate & Investment Banking Group collecting the World’s Best Investment Bank Award for 2023.

3. CaixaBank’s Global Head of Sustainable Finance and ESG Advisory, CIB&IB, Pablo Perez-Montero accepting the Global Award for Outstanding Leadership in ESG-Related Loans for 2023.

4. Caroline Haas, Head of Climate and ESG Capital Markets at NatWest (left) and Gustavo Brianza, Managing Director, ESG Advisory, Debt Advisory at NatWest (right) accepting the Best Bank for Sustainable Finance in the United Kingdom for 2023 from Joseph Giarraputo, Founder and Editorial Director of Global Finance (middle).

5. Gordon McKenna, Managing Director Energy, Infrastructure and Transition for CIBC accepting the Outstanding Leadership in Sustainable Infrastructure Finance Award for 2023.

6. Simon Rankin, Head of Syndicate at Absa receiving the World’s Best Investment Bank in Frontier Markets Award for 2023.

7. Alex Pallin, Principal, responsible for Bradesco Securities UK collecting the World’s Best Investment Bank in Emerging Markets Award for 2023.

8. Standard Bank’s Head of Investment Banking International Yewande Sadiku accepting the regional awards for Best Debt Bank and Best M&A Bank in Africa for 2023.

9. Yousef Al Mutawa, Head of Corporate Banking at KFH Capital collecting the Best Investment Bank Award in Kuwait for 2023.

10. Societe Generale’s team collecting a number of global and regional Sustainable Finance Awards for 2023.

11. Scotiabank’s team receiving the Best Bank for Sustainable Finance in Canada Award for 2023 from Global Finance’s Joseph Giarraputo.

12. Kamco Invest’s Abdullah Mohammad AlSharekh, Managing Director of Markets & Investment Banking accepting the Best Debt Bank in the Middle East Award for 2023.

13. DBS’ Stewart Boyd, Country CEO accepting four regional awards for Outstanding Leadership in Green Bonds, Sustainable Financing in Emerging Markets, Transition/Sustainability Linked Bonds and Transition/Sustainability Liked Loans in Asia Pacific for 2023.

14. Muratcan Baskurt, Vice President Sustainable Finance for Akbank, collecting the Best Bank for Sustainable Finance in Turkey Award for 2023.

15. Rudi Belli, Head of Sustainability for Spuerkeess collecting the Best Bank for Sustainable Finance Award in Luxembourg for 2023.