COUNTRY INDEX
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Best Bank: OTP Bank Albania |
Outstanding financial results, as well as impressive business and operational development, see OTP Bank Albania take the award for Albania’s best bank again this year.
Its net profit in 2021 more than doubled to L1,912 million ($17 million). This was partly due to lower provisions.
Other banks – including Raiffeisen Bank Albania – saw similar increases, but OTP Bank Albania remains the more profitable lender, with a return on equity of 18.5%.
The bank, led by chief executive Bledar Shella, saw its cost-to-income ratio fall by 212 basis points to 46.6% thanks to rising net banking income. And while other top-tier banks in Albania still have a larger share of local banking assets than OTP, its market share in loans grew by 71bp to 11.5%. Despite this, its non-performing loan ratio remains relatively low at 5.2%.
In December, OTP took a further step towards enhancing its franchise in Albania through an agreement to buy the Albanian subsidiary of Greece’s Alpha Bank for €55 million. The bank also progressed its digital offering over the year, with migration to a more efficient card-processing system, in addition to a new card fraud monitoring system.
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Best Bank: Ameriabank |
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Ameriabank is making headway on its universal banking strategy, with growth in its retail and small and medium-sized enterprise lending franchise accompanied by a 22% share of the Armenian corporate bond market. Its metrics are impressive: return on equity of 16.3%, a more than doubling of net profit to AMD19.42 billion ($42.9 million, or 22% of the whole industry), a capital adequacy ratio of 15.3% and a stage-3 non-performing loan ratio of 3.2%, an improvement of one percentage point over last year.
Alongside these numbers are admirable progress on sustainability and digital innovation. The bank’s sustainability strategy aligns with UN SDGs, with a particular emphasis on clean energy, sustainable cities and climate action. Its issuance of two green bond tranches, in dollars and local currency, in April 2022 was just another example of green and renewable financings stretching back to 2009.
On the digital side, a new mobile banking application, MyAmeria, was launched in beta. It should bolster an already impressive online banking penetration rate.
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Best Bank: Raiffeisen Bank |
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After two years when UniCredit Bank Bosnia has taken this award, the title of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s best bank returns to Raiffeisen Bank, under chief executive James Stewart. At the end of 2021, Raiffeisen’s local unit posted return on equity of 11.3%. Net profit rose by 60% to €35 million, thanks to lower provisions and higher fee income, while the cost-to-income ratio fell to 46.7%.
In mobile banking, Raiffeisen has introduced new features, including transfers to phone contacts and personalised financial reports, among others. It also rolled out a new generation of ATM machines as part of an effort to reconceive its branch network. Meanwhile, its point-of-sale and e-commerce offerings also grew, bringing in new partners and solutions.
The bank further developed its digital small and medium-sized enterprise offering, including its online application system for loans, cards and guarantees. It onboarded a record 2,364 new SME customers and deployed pre-selected and pre-approved loans for micro SMEs.
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Best Bank: DSK Bank |
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KBC’s acquisition of Raiffeisen Bank International’s Bulgarian business is set to further shake up the Bulgarian banking sector. But with that deal due to close in mid 2022, OTP-owned DSK Bank retains the award for Bulgaria’s best bank for now.
DSK, under chief executive Tamas Hak-Kovacs, posted returns on equity of 11.6% in 2021 and 12.4% in the first quarter of 2022. The cost-to-income ratio fell to 41.3% in 2021, in line with higher operating income thanks to higher net fees and commissions and lower costs, while the non-performing-loan ratio declined to 2.85%.
Despite its leading position in retail loans and deposits, DSK continues to see strong momentum in its retail business. The bank is seeing rapid growth in adoption of its mobile banking app in Bulgaria and says it has taken steps to speed up online customer onboarding to less than 20 minutes. It is also developing its affluent- and private-banking proposition.
In 2021, DSK launched a new online platform for real-estate searches. It also introduced a new payments tool for use on public transport in Sofia, and a new in-house service for customers to manage accounts held with other banks.
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Best Bank: Zagrebacka banka |
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With its market share in loans of 25%, this year UniCredit-owned Zagrebacka banka proved that Croatia’s biggest bank can also be its best.
The bank’s return on equity in 2021 rose to 11.1%, while its cost-to-income ratio fell to 35.6%. Net profit rose by 173.2% to K2,722 million ($389 million), mainly due to lower provisions; pre-provision profits also rose by 46.7%, partly thanks to a 9.4% increase in net fees and commissions.
The bank took several steps forward on the digital side in retail through the launch of a redesigned mobile banking service, allowing for push notifications for debit-card instalment payments, for example. It also progressed lending to small businesses through cooperation with development finance institutions and through an initiative to promote small-scale tourism.
The bank also carried out mandates on the investment banking side, both as an adviser and underwriter, including sovereign and corporate bond issuance, as well as local equity capital markets activity. Ivan Vlaho took over as chief executive in early 2021.
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Best Bank: Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka |
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Financial results at Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka (CSOB) bounced back last year, allowing the bank to reclaim its title of the Czech Republic’s best bank. KBC-owned CSOB increased net profit by 90% in 2021, reaching Kc16.2 billion ($707 million). It achieved a return on equity of 14.3%, with tier-1 capital at 22.4% and a loans-to-deposits ratio of 71.1%. Loan quality was at its best level since 2008, with the non-performing-loan ratio falling to 1.83% at the end of 2021.
The bank strengthened its market position in mutual funds, leasing, consumer lending and insurance in 2021. The year saw the launch of a new mobile phone application, ČSOB Smart, which helped further increase the number of mobile-banking users. In June, it fulfilled its commitment to exit direct coal financing.
In the first quarter of 2022, the good results continued. Net profit was up 68% year on year, reaching Kc4.6 billion. Total loans grew 7%, with demand particularly strong in the corporate sector, after record mortgage volumes in 2020. It launched online account opening for companies and it acquired 100% of Mallpay, the country’s largest provider of deferred payments.
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Best Bank: LHV Pank |
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Despite an increasingly difficult geopolitical and macroeconomic backdrop, Estonia’s best bank, LHV Pank, posted another year of impressive growth, innovation and financial performance in 2021 as it moves to take more share from rivals.
Customer numbers increased by 63,000 or 24% to 321,000. Total assets grew by 38% to €6.8 billion thanks to deposit growth of 41%, reaching a deposit base of €5.9 billion. The loan book grew by 21% to €2.7 billion, with corporate loans up by 24% to €1.5 billion and retail loans up by 18% to €1.2 billion.
The bank’s net profit for the year grew by 85% to €64.1 million, as revenue growth stayed well ahead of growth in expenses. There was also growth in both net interest income and fees. Return on equity reached 26.2% and the cost-to-income ratio was an impressive 38.6%, while cost of credit was a low 0.2%.
Under chief executive Kadri Kiisel, the bank’s growth has been prudently accompanied by an increase in capital, facilitated by a secondary share offering, while it also issued senior unsecured bonds.
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Best Bank: TBC Bank |
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Best investment bank: Galt & Taggart |
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Georgia is a growing market with a great deal of potential, and TBC Bank, the biggest player in most segments, is well placed to benefit. It holds a 38.6% share of the retail loan market, 40.3% of deposits, 61% of the micro, small and medium-sized enterprise segment and 39.1% of corporate loans. It is targeting underpenetrated mortgage and microloan opportunities.
The bank enjoyed impressive numbers through 2021, with profits increasing more than 1.5 times, and delivering 24.4% return on equity, almost double the previous year. The cost-to-income ratio, at just 37.6%, is impressively low, while the non-performing loan ratio, at 2.4%, is healthy.
In October 2020, TBC launched retail banking operations in Uzbekistan through an online banking app, using the skills it has developed in building Georgia’s most sophisticated digital banking infrastructure.
Galt & Taggart, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Georgia, enjoyed an exceptional 2021. Its net profit was up 20.2% year on year to GeL2.25 million ($802,000), with a 67.3% climb in revenue.
While it grew solidly in brokerage and research, it was in investment banking that the bank did really well in 2021, more than trebling revenues year on year. Key mandates included a feasibility study for Georgian State Electrosystem, a state-owned entity with a monopoly on electricity transmission in Georgia, which involved shifting its financing structure from public to market-based financing.
G&T won the mandate for this World Bank-funded project through a competitive international bidding process.
Another key role was designing and implementing a capital market support programme for the EBRD and the European Union, with the hope of facilitating the capital market development of Georgia.
G&T also handled the sell-side advisory for the largest M&A transaction in Georgia’s real estate sector, and is working with USAid on the development of a private equity market.
While much of G&T’s recent activity is about developing future market infrastructure for Georgia, it is also very active in the bond market that exists today, handling 17 issues in our review period.
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Best Bank: OTP Bank |
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Under chief executive Sándor Csányi, OTP Group has made new efforts to expand regionally over the past year, notably with the acquisition of Nova KBM from funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Capital Management and the EBRD. That deal was expected to close in the second quarter of 2022 and will make OTP the biggest bank in Slovenia. It also agreed to buy the Albanian business of Greece’s Alpha Bank in December.
Its regional expansion suffered a setback when Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Despite this and the merger of Budapest Bank and MKB Bank, the bank’s grip on its domestic market shows little sign of loosening. It has a 26.9% share of assets, while deposits grew by 25% in 2021. Thanks to these strong results in its home market, OTP Bank retains the award for Hungary’s best bank this year.
OTP Core (OTP’s core banking activity in Hungary) saw adjusted after tax profit reach Ft213.4 billion ($584 million) in 2021. This was a 34% increase on the year before, even if it amounted to a lower proportion of OTP Group’s total – 43%, compared with 51% a year earlier. The good result was mainly due to buoyant revenues, as net interest income grew by 29% and net fees and commissions rose by 15%.
Like other banks, OTP continues to work on its digital offering, notably chat and video customer-service functionality.
In sustainable finance, it issued a green mortgage bond on the domestic market in August 2021 and introduced a new ESG risk-management framework in June 2021.
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Best Bank: Halyk Bank |
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Of all the numbers Halyk Bank reported in 2021, the most telling was surely the more than 7% increase in active retail clients through the year to nine million – half the national population. Halyk explains it as a flight to quality in a hugely disrupted year. A strong digital offering helps: eight million of those customers use digital channels, up from 6.2 million a year earlier.
All Halyk’s numbers suggest invigorating momentum: a 29.6% increase in gross loans, 27% in operating income, and a return on equity that stands at 29.7%.
All of this is driven by the bank’s work on proprietary ecosystems, including Halyk Market, an online travel platform called Halyk Travel, and platforms for online brokerage and ticketing.
Since 2020 online consumer loans, auto insurance and lending have been available through digital channels, and the story in all these segments has been of vibrant growth. Online government services followed in 2021.
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Best Bank: Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo |
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As Kosovo’s economy recovered from the mobility restrictions of 2020, last year’s winner of this award, Banka Kombetare Tregtare Kosova, continues to notch up higher growth than peers, although it is coming from a smaller base, for a market share of total assets of 14.5% compared with Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo’s 21%.
A higher share of loans and deposits is also reflected in a higher net profit at Raiffeisen, led by chief executive Anita Kovacic. RBK’s net profit grew by 58% in 2021 to €26.3 million. Its return on equity reached 19.3% and the non-performing loan ratio was stable at 3.1%. It wins the award this year.
The lender has also honed its client offering. That includes new digital developments such as online lending for corporate customers, a single sign-in payments platform for accounts with Raiffeisen and other banks, and an online know-your-customer tool for business clients.
Other developments include the introduction of new cash-deposit machines, enabling higher volumes and faster processing times than ATMs.
While it remains the local market leader for factoring, Raiffeisen has consolidated its lead as a facilitator for remittances to Kosovo via a recently launched foreign currency app.
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Best Bank: DemirBank |
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DemirBank retains its award as the best bank in Kyrgyzstan this year. The Turkish-owned bank continues to bring the benefits of international experience into the Kyrgyz market as it has done since 1997. The result was, in 2021, year-on-year increases in assets, deposits, loans and net profit.
Our review period wasn’t easy in Kyrgyzstan. The pandemic eased but fuel and imported food prices, both vulnerable indicators in this double-landlocked country, rose dramatically. In that environment, a non-performing loan ratio of 4.22% as of March 31, 2022, is more than reasonable, and a dramatic improvement on the 9.07% figure a year earlier.
A return on equity of 25.14% as of March 31 suggests a business that has returned to form. It is boosted by several engines, among them an EU- and EBRD-backed green lending programme, growth of credit cards and point-of-sale terminals, as well as digital development throughout its retail product set.
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Best Bank: SEB Banka |
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This year SEB Banka retains the award for Latvia’s best bank. It posted a profit of €66 million for 2021, equating to a return on average equity of 14.8%, up from 9.5% in 2020. The increase was largely due to lower provisioning, but profit before provisions also rose by 5% to reach €59 million, thanks to healthy business volumes.
Buoyant demand for housing loans added to lending volumes. New financing to individuals rose 31% over the year to €221 million, while housing loans were up 34% to €176 million. Small and medium-sized enterprise loans also grew by 26%, and while overall lending volumes were flat due to dynamics in the corporate sector, deposits increased by 14%, largely due to an increase in retail deposits, which were up 19%.
Digital advances include adding facial recognition to the registration process, helping to allow customer onboarding by mobile app or video. It also upgraded the website such that mortgage borrowers could change repayment amounts and repayment accounts, for example.
In sustainability, it launched a new green housing loan and teamed up with Swedish fintech company Deedster to develop a free app allowing people to calculate their carbon footprint based on their lifestyle and consumption.
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Best Bank: SEB Bankas |
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The award for Lithuania’s best bank this year goes back to SEB Bankas. Net profit grew by 22% in 2021 to reach €114 million and net profit growth continued in the first quarter of 2022. Return on equity was an impressive 12.94% while the cost-to-income ratio was an impressive 38%.
Deposits grew at a double-digit rate for the fourth year in a row in 2021, while the bank granted 45% more new loans for businesses than in 2020. Robust home-loans growth continued in the first quarter of 2022.
Digital initiatives included the launch of robo-advisory, boosting the firm’s asset management inflows. It also made more use of video consulting and upgraded the website with a view to becoming a one-stop-shop for financial services. It launched green mortgages in 2021 and in the first quarter of 2022 it started providing consumer loans for solar energy.
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Best Bank: OTP Bank |
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The award for Moldova’s best bank returns this year to OTP Bank, which saw a sharp recovery in profits, largely thanks to a 23% increase in net interest income, to MLei105 million ($5.5 million).
While the bank maintained a conservative loans-to-deposit ratio of 65%, it grew in lending – with a particular focus on mortgages and consumer lending – and increased its market share in the local deposit market, seeing inflows from households and corporates. It did all this while keeping a lid on costs, posting a cost-to-income ratio of 48.7% in 2021.
Previously part of Societe Generale, OTP’s Moldovan business continued to work with public-sector entities to fund small and medium-sized enterprises in Moldova, sourcing new funding for this purpose from the EBRD.
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Best Bank: NLB Banka |
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This was another landmark year for Montenegro’s banking sector – and especially for NLB Banka, Montenegro’s best bank, as this local unit of the Slovenian group completed its legal and operational merger with Komercijalna Banka AD Podgorica in November. This was the first integration of a bank from the Komercijalna group to NLB to be completed, as the latter readied the final integration of banks in Serbia in 2022.
Aided by consultants from PwC, the merger process in Montenegro took nine months. It was completed on time and saw the migration of 29,000 clients, done in five steps and after a thorough testing process.
NLB Banka, whose chief executive is Martin Leberle, is now the second largest bank in Montenegro by total assets, with a share of just over 14%. Its deal with Komercijalna Banka comes after OTP-owned Crnogorska Komercijalna Banka completed its acquisition of the Montenegrin arm of Societe Generale, Podgoricka Banka, in 2020, bringing its market share to almost 25%.
This was also a strong year financially at NLB Banka, as the firm generated a net profit of €10.9 million, earning it a return on equity of 14.2%. Business was robust, both in terms of net fees and commissions, and lending activity, boosting the bank’s net interest income. NLB Banka’s capital ratio rose to 16.3%.
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Best Bank: Stopanska Banka |
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In North Macedonia’s relatively concentrated banking sector, all the biggest lenders achieved good financial results in 2021, showing strong growth in profits. National Bank of Greece-owned Stopanska Banka, however, had the edge this year, achieving its best-ever result in terms of profit before tax, at an equivalent of €45 million, up 25% from the year before.
While it continues to invest in digital banking, the firm can point to cost containment and balanced growth in banking business to explain its success, with return on equity reaching 13.2% and return on assets at 2.2%.
With Diomidis Nikoletopoulos as chief executive, Stopanska demonstrates ample capital and liquidity, including a loans-to-deposit ratio of 90% and a capital adequacy ratio of 16%. It boasts the top market share in retail lending, as well as gains in its share of loans to the corporate segment, where it is already a top-three player.
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Best Bank: ING Bank Slaski |
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Best Investment Bank: Trigon |
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Thanks to the prevalence of floating rates in Poland, the country’s banks are reaping the benefits of higher interest margins. But they’re also counting the potential costs of a new government programme to support struggling borrowers.
ING Bank Slaski’s advantages have continued to stand out in this context, allowing it to hold on to the award for Poland’s best bank. Its net profit grew by 72% to Zl2.3 billion ($541 million) during the period. Its return on equity reached 7.6%, while its cost-to-income ratio fell from 44.3% to 43%. Loans were up by 16% and deposits by 13%.
In digital banking, its mobile app Moje added functions such as enabling users to pay for public transport tickets and parking. It acquired 319,000 individual clients and 13,000 corporate clients. Its chief executive is Brunon Bartkiewicz.
ING’s Polish business also notched up achievements in sustainable finance, acting as global coordinator on a €500 million green bond for polish energy company PKN Orlen, to help fund its low-carbon transition. During the period, ING Slaski extended Zl127 million to an offshore windfarm and signed a Zl242 million loan agreement with Qair Polska to fund wind and solar energy plants, in addition to leasing activity in the sustainability sector.
Meanwhile, the bank was active in raising funds for refugees from Ukraine. ING for Children Foundation prepared a centre to accommodate women with children from Ukraine. In March, the group donated €3 million to Unicef’s humanitarian efforts to help children and their families in areas affected by the war.
Despite an increasingly difficult macroeconomic and geopolitical context, Trigon, Poland’s best investment bank, worked on a high proportion of the country’s most important investment-banking deals during the awards period.
In equity capital markets, for example, it was joint global coordinator alongside Goldman Sachs and Citi on the Zl5 billion Warsaw IPO of local human resources tech platform Grupa Pracuj. It was also lead adviser to Polish telecoms company Cyfrowy Polsat on the sale of its towers subsidiary Polkomtel Infrastruktura to Cellnex for Zl7.1 billion, closing in July last year.
Other deals include acting as sole coordinator on the ZL1.4 billion IPO of Polish sustainable energy contractor ONDE, and global coordinator on the ZL560 million IPO of biomedical company Captor Therapeutics. It advised PGS Software on a delisting and sale to Waterland-owned Xebia and convenience-store chain Zabka on the acquisitions of Dietly and Maczfit.
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Best Bank: BCR |
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Banca Transilvania has won the award for Romania’s best bank for the last two years. It continued to make strides in developing its business, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as the establishment of its own technology company, Code Crafters. This year, however, the award goes back to Erste Bank-owned BCR, whose chief executive is Sergiu Manea.
BCR’s net profit rose 73% in 2021 to L1.4 billion ($306 million), thanks to lower cost of risk and a higher operating performance. The operating result grew by 12.9% to L2.1 billion, mainly thanks to higher net-interest income and net fees and commissions. Its cost-to-income ratio improved to an outstanding 44%, while non-performing loans also fell. It grew lending in both retail and corporate banking.
The good results continued in the first quarter of 2022, with a further rise in net profit and operating income. The group at this time took action to help refugees from Ukraine in Romania, cutting fees, while InnovX-BCR and Romanian tech startup Jobful rapidly developed a jobs platform for people from Ukraine.
The bank’s digital offering for retail and SMEs, George, saw further growth. It launched a chatbot and made strides in open banking through new partnerships with companies in sectors such as health, cybersecurity and mobility. In sustainable financing, BCR issued an inaugural green bond and helped raise funding for renewable energy projects in the country, while green mortgage loans surpassed 30% of mortgage applications to the bank.
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Best Bank: OTP Bank Serbia |
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Now the country’s second-biggest bank by assets, and the local market leader in leasing, OTP Bank Serbia completed its integration of Societe Generale’s former Serbian business in May 2021. Having first agreed to acquire the former Societe Generale business in 2019, OTP embarked on one of the most complex merger integrations ever seen in Serbia and across the region, much of it at the height of the pandemic.
With the merger out of the way, and as the pandemic started to ease, OTP Bank Serbia’s return on equity rose to 11.2% in 2021. That was the result of its commercial performance, above all increasing net-interest income, as well as a good result on the treasury side and falling expenses thanks to efficiency measures. The bank achieved a cost-to-income ratio of 51.2%.
In other developments, the bank sealed a €20 million loan agreement with the EBRD for on-lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. And it notched up healthy loan growth in mortgages and in corporate lending.
Predrag Mihajlovic, chief executive of OTP Bank Serbia, says he will not become complacent after winning this year’s award for Serbia’s best bank, however.
Last year’s winner, Raiffeisen Banka, has a particularly strong businesses in areas like SMEs, and continued to show good profitability. Raiffeisen Banka has a lower share of assets, but announced the acquisition of Crédit Agricole’s Serbian business, including leasing, in August 2021.
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Best Bank: Slovenska Sporitelna |
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Strong financial results, digital development and sustainable finance advances make Slovenska Sporitelna Slovakia’s best bank this year. Net income rose 111% to €228 million, while the cost-to-income ratio fell to 46.3% thanks to a 3.6% rise in operating income and a 1.1% fall in expenses. The non-performing loan ratio fell to 1.8% and tier-1 capital rose to 19.8%.
Under Peter Krutil, chief executive since 2018, the bank has focused on growing fees because of ultra-low euro interest margins. It posts a 25% annual increase in insurance brokerage commissions over the past four years, while asset management income rose by 75% in 2021.
Digital developments include a new virtual adviser, Vesna, which appears in 3D in some branches. It also introduced a new payments solution, Payme, and a third-party solution allowing merchants’ smartphones to work as point-of-sale terminals. It also came up with new digital functionality including online extraordinary mortgaging repayments and mobile stock trading.
In sustainable finance, it issued a €100 million green, senior preferred bond, tested social bond issuance, and launched a new responsible investment fund.
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Best Bank: NLB |
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Slovenia was the site of OTP’s biggest ever acquisition last year. The Hungarian banking group announced the purchase of Nova KBM from funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Capital Management and the EBRD in June, with the deal expected to close in the second quarter of 2022. It will make OTP the biggest bank in Slovenia.
This year, however, the award for Slovenia’s best bank goes back to NLB, which also had an eventful year, as it worked to integrate banks from the Komercijalna group, which it completed in May 2022. NLB also announced the acquisition of the Slovenian unit of Sberbank in early March, as part of the resolution of the Russian bank’s European business.
NLB chief executive Blaž Brodnjak reported a record high profit of €236 million for 2021, and a group return on equity of 11.4%, rising to 12% in the first quarter of 2022.
Retail loan growth has been strong, notably in the Slovenian housing sector. Net fees and commissions are also on the up, rising 14% in 2021, excluding the contribution from Komercijalna.
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Best Bank: Akbank |
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Best Investment Bank: Citi |
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Despite an increasingly difficult operating environment, Turkey’s best private banks continued to post good results over the period of these awards.
Akbank, Turkey’s best bank, reached a return on equity of 17.9% in 2021, while the non-performing loan ratio fell from 6.2% to 4.5%, with coverage rising to 65.3%. Lending rose by 44% while deposits rose by 55%. Its capital adequacy ratio was 17.2%.
Akbank’s technology milestones include a new data centre, with migration completed during the pandemic. It transformed its corporate mobile banking proposition and launched a point-of-sale app on merchants’ smartphones. It also launched a new mobile platform, Tosla, for younger users.
The bank provided TL25 billion ($1.53 billion) of sustainable finance in 2021 and targets TL200 billion in sustainable loan finances by 2030. It also launched loans for investments in rooftop solar panels.
Local investment banks in Turkey continue to do good business. Unlu & Co, for example, advised on an impressive number of M&A deals, often involving international investors in Turkey. The company completed its own IPO process in June.
When it comes to deals of international relevance, however, Citi is the bank that stands out. It remains Turkey’s best investment bank this year.
Citi’s deals in Turkey included a $1.5 billion private capital raising for Trendyol, at a post-money valuation of $16.5 billion. Citi acted as financial adviser and placement agent on this landmark transaction for Turkey’s tech sector. Other capital raisings include advising marketing tech platform Insider on a $120 million Series-D capital raising at a post-money $1.2 billion valuation.
In addition to M&A – such as advising Huhtamaki on its $483 million acquisition of Elif Holding – Citi led some of Turkey’s key bond deals of the year. Sustainable finance deals continued to proliferate, including a $750 million green issuance by Aydem Renewables.
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Best Bank: SQB (Uzpromstroybank) |
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It is time to acknowledge a bank that has been under a process of transformation for several years with the support of the world’s multilaterals and is now ready to be privatized within the next 12 months.
SQB (Uzpromstroybank) is an important player in Uzbekistan, with about 12.7% of the banking sector by assets and 13.2% of the national credit market. It was founded in the 1920s, became a joint stock commercial bank after Uzbekistan’s independence in 1991, and by 2018 had attracted the attention of the IFC, EBRD and Asian Development Bank, which set about assisting it in transforming its systems and approaches.
Those multilaterals hope the bank will provide credit to Uzbekistan’s growing private sector, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises.
By 2021, it had achieved the highest net profits among all the republic’s commercial banks, and it is making strides in its digital evolution. The IFC took a minority stake through a $75 million convertible in the course of the year. Priorities now are attracting strategic foreign investors, diversifying the business and continuing to improve efficiency. It will be interesting to watch the bank’s progress.
