Awards for Excellence 2008: Portugal

Best bank: Santander Totta  Best investment bank: Caixa BI

Santander Totta is truly in a class of its own in Portugal. In a year when most of its biggest rivals have attracted headlines for all the wrong reasons – losses, intrigue, scandal – Totta has been quietly gaining ground.

Growth in the bank’s domestic net interest income of 12.2% at a time of slowing economic performance and rising uncertainty outclasses the 4.8% of its only serious rival this year, Banco Espírito Santo, the overall performance of which is also flattered by its foreign operations in Brazil and Angola.