Best bank HongKongBank
Cynics said HongkongBank would suffer as the handover of Hong Kong to China approached. But the Hong Kong market’s confidence in its listed parent, HSBC Holdings, argues otherwise. In the May rally, HSBC led the charge and reached a new high of HK$224 (US$29) per share.
HongKongBank makes more money in the region than anyone else US$790 million in non-Hong Kong Asia, US$3.15 billion for Asia as a whole. It has assets in non-Hong Kong Asia of US$47 billion and 230 offices in 19 countries. As a Goldman Sachs research report puts it, it has a “gem of a network that would now be close to impossible to replicate”.
The bank has long been a leader in trade finance and custody services. For example, it is sub-custodian for 66% of foreign institutional investment flows in India. And its corporate relationships are impeccable as is illustrated by its top position as Asian issuers arranger in the syndicated-loan market. Between January and May it arranged 23 loans worth $1.42 billion. In response to Citibank’s successful drive in personal banking and credit cards, HongkongBank has also reorganized its reporting lines to replicate some of Citi’s success in offering standard (though high-margin) products Powervantage and Assetvantage in its case.
Its regional treasury has also been shaken up by treasurer Stuart Gulliver, who has centralized trading and reporting lines in Hong Kong. With 200 dealers it has the biggest trading floor in Asia outside Japan and last year total dealing profits rose HK$302 million to HK$2.6 billion. The bank is also beginning to leverage its businesses with other members of the group, although clearly there is some way to go.
Top tier Citibank
Best securities firm ING Barings
ING Barings has a strong franchise in equities thanks to the Barings acquisition. Surprisingly the Barings name has lost none of its lustre in Asia, in spite of the shenanigans with Nick Leeson. It is still a premier brand, and everywhere in Asia is in the top three brokerages among foreign firms. The clincher is its ability in debt.
On the debt side it is especially good at trading Asian debt off the emerging market desk, but what is more interesting is the commitment being made to primary issuance in the rapidly developing local-currency markets. ING Barings is one of the few houses that has been involved in the groundbreaking supranational Euro issues in currencies such as Philippine pesos and Korean won. In won in particular it is unique in its ability to place paper in domestic and international tranches. With over 1,000 staff it has the largest presence in Asia of any investment bank, and has 13 local offices with membership of 10 stock exchanges. It is also an AA minus firm with one of the world’s largest capital bases ($18 billion).
