A new platform aims to help get troublesome sustainable infrastructure projects financed. Its chief executive explains to Euromoney the ambitions and challenges ahead.

The failures of we.trade and HSBC’s Serai highlight the challenges that blockchain-based solutions face.

HSBC’s interim result shows that banks are drawing a line under pandemic-related provisions, while simultaneously setting aside new ones for the disease’s economic cure. All banks must make this transition, but HSBC has other things to worry about besides: a campaign from China’s Ping An to split the bank in half.

HSBC has dominated the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space for many years, and nowhere is that more evident than in the Middle East. There are many reasons why it deserves to be named the region’s best bank for sustainable finance.

Last year was one that saw HSBC in its best light in this region. The Middle East is not always an easy place in which to run a full-service investment bank. Some years are stellar; in others the well runs dry. But with energy prices up and governments committed to economic and financial diversification, there has never been a better time to be in the UK lender’s shoes.

HSBC approaches sustainable finance on a different canvas to everyone else. All houses can highlight great environmental, social and governance deals by now, but HSBC doesn’t just want to tell you about a green bond or a sustainability financing. It wants to talk about shaping policy with assistance to governments and regulators; about how sustainable finance goes all the way through its banking offering to trade finance and cash management, to sustainability-linked interest rate swaps and recycled PVC credit cards.

HSBC has long dominated global trade finance but has also been at the forefront of digital innovation this year.

The first three months of the year have been tough for many investment banking business lines, but Europe’s banks are putting up a good fight against the might of the US firms.

The UK bank’s new fund aims to deliver metaverse-themed investment opportunities to wealthy clients in Hong Kong and Singapore.

The rates sell-off is making it more expensive for high-yield and high-grade borrowers to access the bond markets. Maturities on offer are shortening, and it could be about to get much worse.

HSBC’s head of global private banking in China, Jackie Mau, explains the lender’s onshore ambitions, the future of Wealth Connect, plans for new offices and how and why China differs from other private wealth markets.

It might have the wind in its sails, but the bank will need to be nimble and smart if it is to find success in its three principle aims.

More financial institutions are moving into the banking-as-a-service market to tap into demand from corporates looking to offer multiple payment options and enhance customer loyalty.

Last week, four global banks unveiled cross-border wealth management services under the banner of Wealth Connect, but with the crisis at Evergrande unresolved and growth slipping, the scheme comes at a tricky moment.

Many initiatives have promised to crowd in private capital through the catalytic effect of their own seed investment. Will this one work?

Societe Generale’s decision to launch a joint treasury management solution with Kyriba is just the latest example of banks and technology vendors collaborating to offer more sophisticated treasury functionality.

As FX traders ponder how the recent increase in coronavirus cases might affect the global economy, it appears they are spending even more time trying to second guess central bank thinking.

Court documents relating to fraud charges against a young and flamboyant Singapore trader show that most of the country’s banks have had a relationship with him.

Transaction services was affected by the pandemic in two significant ways. One was on the cash management side, where there was a forced acceleration of digital initiatives and of their take-up by corporate clients. That was interesting, but by and large it was happening anyway.

It was yet another impressive year for HSBC in sustainable finance. At a global level the bank is committed to net-zero on carbon emissions. At a regional level it has a team of 39 staff, led by its head of sustainability, Europe and the Middle East, Sabrin Rahman. They engage with clients on ESG, sustainable finance and transition strategies.

HSBC retains the award for best bank for transaction services for the third straight year thanks to its ability to adapt to the pandemic and the rapidly changing needs of regulators and its customers. In the Middle East that means being there when it matters. The bank processed $552 billion in payments and $54 billion in trade for 15,000-plus clients last year.

Despite strong showings from peers including BNP Paribas and Citi, HSBC’s strength in sustainable finance is deep rooted and hard to match. Jonathan Drew’s team lifts this award for the fourth consecutive year.

HSBC, with big operations in the UK and France as well as a presence on the ground in 20 markets across Europe, wins the award for the region’s best bank for small and medium-sized enterprises this year, against strong challenges from UniCredit and Santander.

When Stephen Williams joined HSBC more than 20 years ago, the bank was a backmarker in Asian debt markets. When he retires next month, he leaves it top of the heap.

HSBC’s new global wallet offering is the latest in a line of services enabling businesses to make and receive international payments from a single account.

With the acquisition of 80 east coast branches and a slug of online deposits, Citizens has added even more firepower to its national expansion ambitions.

The leading FX banks have introduced notable enhancements to their electronic trading platforms in recent months in an attempt to make them more attractive to traders that are still working away from their offices.

Less charismatic chief executives will serve Europe’s banks well in the 2020s – unless it simply means that more power will reside with their chairmen.

Euromoney’s 2021 trade finance survey reflects an unprecedented year for the industry.

It has the backing of Prince Charles, as well as several big names in banking – but will the Financial Services Taskforce contribute anything new to the fight against climate change?