Awards for Excellence 2000: The end of the world as we know it

This year's awards for excellence are a final farewell to domestic banking. Definitions of domestic or foreign have acknowledged that while local banks may have the best retail and local currency wholesale operations in a country, foreign institutions, with a handful of branches, often offer the best in cross-border financing and transaction services. Consolidation will ensure this year will be the last in which this distinction has any meaning. By Simon Brady.