The most profitable, most international, and largest bank in the world, and the one with the most universal product offering, spanning retail, private, commercial and investment banking, is Citigroup. But the reputation of last year's winner of the best bank award has been tarnished throughout the investigations by New York state attorney-general Eliot Spitzer into the influence investment bankers - and senior management - exerted over equity analysts. It has paid hefty financial reparations, its share price has suffered and the bank has even had to reconsider its business model.
Other leading universal banks have enjoyed mixed fortunes in the past year. JPMorgan has suffered failures of internal risk control, though its most recent quarterly results show clear signs of improvement. Deutsche Bank's global markets business has performed superbly but the bank is still going through an overhaul in which non-core businesses - private equity, passive asset management, custody - have been shed. And it has suffered from the German downturn. HSBC has stepped outside its usual businesses with the purchase of Household in the US and seems on the point of a new effort in global investment banking.
