Global Finance has announced its selection of global winners for the 26th annual World’s Best Banks , the 2024 World’s Best Bank is JP Morgan.

“JP Morgan topped its global competition across numerous business lines through its deep expertise, leading client service, and broad product offerings. The bank’s growing investment in talent and technology ensures its continued growth and profitability.” said Joseph Giarraputo, founder and editorial director of Global Finance.

“For over thirty years, corporate and banking leaders have turned to Global Finance’s Best bank awards to identify financial partners who not only excel in their offerings but also adapt and innovate in an ever-evolving market.”

Global Finance has announced its selection of global winners for the 26th annual World’s Best Banks , including its honouree for the World’s Best Corporate Bank, the 2024 World’s Best Corporate Bank is BBVA.

“With a 50% growth rate for its international corporate banking business, BBVA’s focus on digitalization, innovation, and sustainability has delivered significant returns for its business clients worldwide. Its technology investments and broad product offerings put the bank at the head of the corporate banking pack.” said Joseph Giarraputo, founder and editorial director of Global Finance.

“For over thirty years, corporate and banking leaders have turned to Global Finance’s Best bank awards to identify financial partners who not only excel in their offerings but also adapt and innovate in an ever-evolving market.”

Global Finance has announced its selection of global winners for the 26th annual World’s Best Banks , including its honouree for the World’s Best Consumer Bank, the 2024 World’s Best Consumer Bank is Standard Chartered.

“Standard Chartered’s investments in digital channels and improved client experience have paid off for the bank and the consumer via dramatic increases in net profits and in broader product portfolio.” said Joseph Giarraputo, founder and editorial director of Global Finance.

“For over thirty years, corporate and banking leaders have turned to Global Finance’s Best bank awards to identify financial partners who not only excel in their offerings but also adapt and innovate in an ever-evolving market.”

Global Finance has announced its selection of global winners for the 26th annual World’s Best Banks , including its honouree for the World’s Best Emerging Markets Bank, the 2024 World’s Best Emerging Markets Bank is QNB.

“QNB’s twin strategies of focusing on its core wholesale banking business and constantly improving its approach to risk management has led to significant growth in its domestic market and the Middle Eastern, African and Southeast Asian market, which it serves. Its digital-first aspirations have seen positive returns within its business lines.” said Joseph Giarraputo, founder and editorial of Global Finance.

“For over thirty years, corporate and banking leaders have turned to Global Finance’s Best bank awards to identify financial partners who not only excel in their offerings but also adapt and innovate in an ever-evolving market.”

Global Finance has announced its selection of global winners for the 26th annual World’s Best Banks , including its honouree for the World’s Best Frontier Market Bank, the 2024 World’s Best Frontier Market Bank is UBA.

“United Bank for Africa continued to deliver on its dedication to serving domestic and international businesses while providing financial inclusivity during 2023’s slowing economic growth. The pan-African bank’s robust risk management, prudent lending policies, and strategic internal investments delivered stellar financial returns, making it stand out from the competition in the frontier markets.” said Joseph Giarraputo, founder and editorial director of Global Finance.

“For over thirty years, corporate and banking leaders have turned to Global Finance’s Best bank awards to identify financial partners who not only excel in their offerings but also adapt and innovate in an ever-evolving market.”

Winners were selected based on performance over the past year and other criteria including reputation and management excellence. Global Finance’s editorial board made the selections with input from corporate financial executives, analysts and bankers throughout the world. The editors also used entries submitted by banks for Global Finance’s 2024 awards programs, in addition to independent research, to evaluate a series of objective and subjective factors.

Global Finance will hold its 26th annual World’s Best Bank Awards alongside the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, D.C. in October later this year.

Global Finance: What drove CaixaBank’s performance in 2023?

Gonzalo Gortázar: CaixaBank’s outstanding performance in 2023 reflected strong commercial activity throughout the year, with a sharp focus on clients and on covering their bancassurance needs. This performance has been backed by the strongest financial position in over 10 years, underpinned by rate normalization and prudent risk and capital management, resulting in sound credit metrics, ample liquidity and solid solvency levels.

In a challenging environment, net profit increased to 4.8 billion euros ($5.1 billion) a 54% rise from the previous year, allowing us to deliver a 13.2% return on equity.

We have created the most competitive financial offering in Spain, which enables us to offer the best solutions for every client. As a result, customer funds grew by €19 billion during the year, a 3.1% increase, with market share in long-term savings standing at 29.3%

Moreover, we maintain comfortable levels of nonperforming assets, with an NPL ratio of 2.7%. CaixaBank also closed the year with strong liquidity and solvency, demonstrating the Group’s balance sheet strength.

Our strength has enabled us to help and serve our clients’ financial needs. This year, for example, we have granted more than 280,000 loans to businesses in Spain and 80,000 new mortgages to families.

GF: Which significant sustainability milestones did the bank hit in 2023?

Gortázar: In 2023, CaixaBank achieved significant sustainability milestones, reaffirming our commitment to a greener and more equitable future.

Through our Sustainable Banking Plan 2022-2024, we are committed to mobilizing €64 billion in sustainable finance. This plan has three priorities: leading in social impact and promoting financial inclusion, driving a sustainable transition for businesses and society, and fostering a culture of responsibility and excellent governance. We’ve already made significant progress in 2022 and 2023, so 79% of our target is already achieved. Through Microbank, the leading microfinance institution in Europe, we granted 145,000 microcredits to families and SMEs [small and midsize enterprises] in 2023. And we have taken on the commitment to gradually reduce financing to companies linked to thermal coal until its complete phaseout in 2030, as well as other specific decarbonization targets for the automotive and iron and steel sectors, which add to those already established in 2022 for the oil and gas and electricity sectors.

In sustainable financing, CaixaBank is the European leader, according to the Refinitiv LSEG ranking, securing first place with 120 transactions valued at $18.74 billion. This not only reflects our growth and commitment to finance the transition but also our capability to lead by example in the financial sector.

GF: How have 2023 digitalization efforts improved the client experience for retail, commercial and corporate clients?

Gortázar: In 2023, CaixaBank has prioritized customer experience as a core element of its strategy. This focus includes enhancing user experience through customization, the growing importance of financial advice, increased mobile interaction and other digital innovations.

CaixaBank leads in Spanish digital banking with a 43.4% market share, as reported by GfK DAM, the official provider of digital consumption data in Spain. The bank serves over 11.5 million digital customers. CaixaBank has continually improved its digital platforms for all customer groups, especially Imagin, the mobile bank for young customers, which serves more than 3.2 million clients.

CaixaBank’s 2023 initiatives include the launch of the Smartphone TPV, streamlining mobile card payments for enhanced user convenience. The bank also has entered a transformative partnership with Google Cloud to leverage cloud computing, data analytics and artifical intelligence  for developing new customer services and accelerating our digital transformation.

Additionally, CaixaBank’s collaboration with the European Central Bank [ECB] to prototype instant payments using the digital euro, along with integrating Bizum for simplified bill sharing via the CaixaBankNow app, will mark a leap forward in digital payment solutions. Reinforcing its dedication to digital innovation, CaixaBank has put together a multidisciplinary task force of more than 100 people to exclusively analyze and deploy generative AI in selected areas, which will allow us to enhance our operational efficiency and customer service excellence.    

Global Finance: What drove UOB’s performance in 2023?

Wee Ee Cheong: The ASEAN region is growing and has great potential. We believe this is a region where we can compete and do very well.

Our ambition is to be the bank of choice for aspiring individuals in ASEAN. The region’s growing affluence provides an immense opportunity for UOB to expand. Through the acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer banking businesses in four ASEAN markets—Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam—we are now delivering at scale and enhancing returns across these markets.

We also aim to be the top cross-border trade bank in ASEAN. We have one of the most extensive footprints among leading regional banks. Our combination of strong sector expertise and local market knowledge enables us to help businesses navigate market complexities and to seize growth opportunities. With our connectivity, we seamlessly support businesses to facilitate intra- and inter-regional trade, payments and foreign exchange flows and cross-border investments.

For the past eight years, we have invested $800 million to build our regional cash, trade and payments platforms and results have started to kick in. We will see fuller impact in coming years. As a long-term player, we continue to invest in our regional franchise for sustainable growth.

GF: How has the integration of Citi assets progressed? Is it complete?

Wee: In 2023, we grew our retail customer base to eight million across the region as we completed the acquisition of the four ASEAN consumer banking units from Citi. We have successfully integrated the new businesses in Malaysia and Indonesia with the UOB platforms, while integration in Thailand is slated for the first half of 2024, with Vietnam to follow suit in 2025.

This transformational deal has doubled our retail franchise in those four countries and accelerated UOB’s growth in the region by five years. Our focus now is on tapping synergies to cross-sell to our expanded customer base.

Supported by stronger capabilities and an enlarged scale, we are also in a sweet spot to foster strategic partnerships across multiple markets. Last year, we announced mega lifestyle offerings as the presenting sponsors for Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” in Singapore and Ed Sheeran’s “+–=÷x Tour” in four of our key markets. We will do more to extend lifestyle offerings that meet the needs and aspirations of our customers.

GF: Which sustainability milestones did the bank hit in 2023?

Wee: Sustainability is a strategic area where we are focusing our efforts to have an impact, as part of our promise to do right by our stakeholders. It is fundamental to UOB’s corporate purpose, and we want to be a responsible financial steward to help individuals, companies and communities build the future of ASEAN.

In 2023, UOB released its first-year net zero progress report on its commitment to reaching net zero by 2050. We made positive headway in meeting the targets set for our five focus sectors: power, automotive, real estate, construction and steel. We achieved reductions in emissions intensities across all five sectors in 2022. Our commitment also includes no new financing for upstream oil and gas projects approved for development after 2022. Together, the six sectors make up about 60% of our corporate lending portfolio.

GF: Are there any new challenges that UOB or the entire banking sector face in 2024 that they didn’t in 2023?

Wee: The same macroeconomic uncertainty will persist this year, with higher-for-longer interest rates, geopolitical instability and softening global demand causing a drag on credit growth.

Looking beyond the near term, we think the banking industry is likely to see regionalization of economic flows, new industries emerging due to the sustainability push, artificial intelligence taking service and productivity to a new level, and the rise of regulated digital currencies and tokens.

UOB is transforming to manage the challenges brought about by these trends. We are reshaping our business to drive ASEAN connectivity and cross-border trade. We are also leveraging our enhanced capabilities, enlarged customer base and synergies from the Citi acquisition to fulfill customer needs and lifestyle aspirations.

In addition, we are developing new initiatives to target emerging areas such as sustainability and innovation. We are also doubling down on productivity efforts by digitalizing our processes, enhancing customer experience, deepening employee engagement and streamlining costs. Collectively, these initiatives will help ensure that UOB grows sustainably, staying true to our commitment to balance growth with stability. The external environment can be fast-changing, but we are here for the long term and remain steadfast in our promise to do right by our customers. This has always been our North Star.