Awards for excellence – Hong Kong

Best bank:

HSBC

Best equity house:

Merrill Lynch

Best debt house:

HSBC

Best M&A house:

Goldman Sachs

One of the broad trends in local banking in Hong Kong in the past year was the soft, sluggish loan market. Although most banks are able and willing to lend, since cleaning up their balance sheets, demand has remained weak. Pricing and spreads have also suffered. Banks are only able to get 60 basis points instead of the 200bp common in 2000. Mortgage lending is at the lowest for a generation.