Published: May 2, 2019
Welcome to EMEA Finance’s Europe Banking Awards 2018. This awards package celebrates eleven years that we have recognized the achievements of the region’s retail and investment banks, asset managers, and brokers. These awards afford special attention through our CEE & CIS level winners to banks and financial institutions that are pushing the industry forward with new and innovative products and services, excelling in investment banking, increasing the number of banked individuals, and giving back to the community through their corporate social responsibility programmes.
As you will read, the digitization revolution is upon us. And it requires more than just commitment to transformation, it takes money and resources to make it happen. Many of our winning banks are fully onboard with this fact, and some are dedicating hundreds of millions of dollars and hiring new-types of staff to transform themselves, and in a pursuit to find competitive advantage in the digital revolution enveloping us all.
There is considerable innovation in the CEE & CIS region. In the investment banking area, banks are offering real time solutions and access to trading systems. This is after all what customers crave, and eventually what must be delivered. In corporate and retail banking the challenges to become digital can be daunting. There are considerable risks inherent in the operation of IT systems, managing and storing data, collaborating with myriad partners, and pursuing and financing new products and services. However, we report on much progress that is being made, and the successful roll out of stunning new services, even robots. There is much more to follow judging by our reporting.
In capital markets, last year was a robust one for CEE & CIS credits with corporate, financial institutions and sovereigns accessing the debt, equity and loan markets. There were event specific moments that did provide considerable headwinds particularly in the second of the year for Turkey, and the sanction programme still has a detrimental impact on what was once and could be again the strongest source of capital market activity, Russia.
This year’s Europe Banking Awards 2018 editorial feature highlights achievements registered by our CEE & CIS level winners and a select number of the region’s countries. These reports explore the performances of the winners, including some exclusive insights from key individuals at the firms regarding their strategies for growth and proudest accomplishments from the course of 2018. Congratulations to all our winners on a truly outstanding year.