The banks in each market that have excelled across a range of core banking activities over the past 12 months.

The region's best banks, country by country

Best Bank: OTP Bank Albania

Best Bank: Afghanistan International Bank

Best Bank: Banco Angolano De InvestimentosBest Investment Bank: Standard Chartered Angola

The region's best banks, country by country

The most striking thing about this year’s winner of the US best super-regional investment bank award is that PNC Financial Services Group prides itself on not really having an investment bank.

Canada’s banking market remains as competitive as ever, but one bank stands out for the strong performance of its underlying businesses as well as for completing the standout strategic move of the period. Bank of Montreal (BMO) is Canada’s Best Bank.

Sometimes a franchise is suited to a moment. And in an awards period that began with the catastrophe unfolding in Ukraine, ended with a meltdown in US regional banking, and was accompanied throughout by eye-watering rate hikes, clients had no shortage of demands of their investment banks.

Moribund primary equity capital markets and a rising interest rate environment meant that investment banks were tested more than ever in the past 12 months as they sought to give clients the options they needed in spite of poor conditions.

Only the biggest and soundest of the US regional banks were able to come through the wreckage of March 2023 unbowed. None did so better than Citizens, a bank that was already consolidating two fine strategic moves at the start of the awards period and was able to consider another at its end. It wins the award for the country’s best super-regional bank.

Good banks do not collapse in times of turmoil. But the best banks do more than that – they are so buttressed against stress that when it strikes, they not only emerge unscathed but can act decisively in support of the whole sector. JPMorgan was that bank in March 2023, able to play that role because of its consistently superior performance.

Best Bank: National Bank of BahrainBest Investment Bank: Sico Bank

Best Bank: Banco Angolano de InvestimentosBest Investment Bank: Standard Bank Angola

The banks in each market that have excelled across a range of core banking activities over the past 12 months.

The region's best banks, country by country

Euromoney's Country Awards for Excellence 2022: Central and Eastern Europe

The region's best banks, country by country

Best Bank: Afghanistan International Bank

The region's best banks, country by country

For PNC Financial, the US’s inaugural best super-regional bank, 2021 was a landmark year in a decade-long national expansion under chief executive Bill Demchak.

Bank of America is thriving. In its home market, it has led the way in retail banking with a distinctive preferred rewards programme that offers retail customers preferential rates across a full range of products from credit cards to mortgages.

Goldman Sachs’s investment bank division excelled during the awards period thanks to a targeted focus on growth sectors such as healthcare, technology and financial sponsor business. This paid off handsomely on its home turf, where the bank dominated the Americas M&A league tables during the awards period, working on 582 deals with a total value of $1.6 trillion for a 30.72% market share. This is slightly ahead of the same period last year where it took 29.52% market share from 408 deals worth $1.15 trillion together.

Truist Securities, the corporate and investment banking division of Truist Financial Corporation, wins Euromoney’s inaugural award for best super-regional investment bank in the US. The award reflects the key role it plays in the domestic financial system, providing critical funding and extending capital-raising services to large corporates and small and medium-sized enterprises.

Celebrating its 190th anniversary this year, making it older than the confederation of Canada itself, Scotiabank has quite a heritage. So does Brian Porter, its chief executive, who has been at the firm for his whole career, stretching back to 1981. But when he took the helm in 2013, his job was to reposition a bank that might best have been described as a mini-HSBC.

BMO Capital Markets is Canada’s best investment bank this year, rewarding the momentum that has propelled it up the advisory and equity capital markets league tables while also gaining ground in debt capital markets.

It was another strong year for Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), which saw increased provisioning at the start of the pandemic but had good performance throughout and is now well placed to benefit from the post-crisis recovery. Once again it is Euromoney’s choice as Canada’s best bank.

The region's best banks, country by country

In a market of more than 5,000 banks, competition in the US is fierce. But among the clutch of sizeable regional banks, one firm has seen a remarkable transition since its IPO in 2014, under the steady leadership of chief executive Bruce Van Saun. Citizens wins the award for the US’s best bank.

The region's best banks, country by country