HSBC was named 'the world's best bank' in Euromoney's annual Awards for Excellence.

The awards are decided by the magazine's editors. In addition to the Best Bank award, HSBC won several other awards, including Best at Treasury and Risk Management in Asia for the seventh consecutive year and Best Bank in the Middle East.

In naming HSBC the world's best bank, the editors cited the Group's financial performance and its relationship-based approach to banking. "HSBC is one of a tiny group of truly global banks and one that has produced good returns for its shareholders by getting the basics right," the magazine said in its July issue. "In truth, HSBC’s reputation for cautious conservatism is overstated. It wins Euromoney's best bank award this year after 12 months in which its senior management has shown substantial progress with two bold risks: the integration of US consumer finance group Household which it acquired in 2003 for $14.8 billion, and the build-up of its corporate, investment banking and markets business, which it launched last year."

The magazine noted that the integration of CIBM into a single global business had begun under Stephen Green when the Group CEO was running CIBM. "This project was given new impetus by the promotion of Stuart Gulliver, an HSBC veteran and architect of its world-class markets business, and John Studzinski, a big-name investment banker hired in from Morgan Stanley, as co-heads. Their task is to improve the bank’s position as strategic adviser on mergers and acquisitions and fundraising for corporations with which it already has strong lending and transaction services relationships," the magazine said.

"'We have an absolute raft of such relationships, albeit mainly at treasurer level rather than at the CEO and CFO level,' says Green [Euromoney interviewed the Group CEO]. 'The feedback we were getting from customers was that if we could truly offer a greater breadth of services, they would gladly do more business with us. So we have embarked on a growth strategy and said that we would be prepared to invest in the order of $400 million over the next two to three years to grow what is already a very significant part of the group.'," the magazine said.

"The signs so far are that Studzinski is doing a sterling job in attracting high-profile investment bankers, and the bank is transplanting its Asian debt capital markets success to Europe. It remains to be seen what it will make of its equity business. 'We believe in a global sector approach, rather than a cover the whole waterfront approach in investment banking,' says Green, 'so hiring is about quality of people rather than quantity.' As to equity, he says: 'That is where the most radical change is taking place. They key thing is not to duck that challenge. We know that the old brokerage model doesn’t have a sustainable future and believe that equity trading should be integrated within the markets business with research positioned differently. And we know that if we want that high-level strategic relationship with a company then we need the equity capital markets capability."

The full list of Euromoney Awards for Excellence given to HSBC:

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