Almost 35,000 companies and financial institutions vote, a record response rate; HSBC wins globally for both client sectors; and there are big changes at the upper end of cash management survey, with regional banks to the fore and some once global leaders dropping back.

Results index Santander Private Banking wins the award for best bank for wealth management in Latin America due in large part to its ability to connect clients using a team of experts across the investment bank, commercial bank and investment management.

The bank’s approach to SMEs is different and successful: it is international in scope and looks to help companies beyond just lending.

Banking in Argentina has been challenging in recent years. Increasingly stringent regulation has required banks to lend to certain segments at capped interest rates, while high inflation has complicated other transactional business. The banking system has, by and large, coped well with the poor business environment, and now (in private) bankers are optimistic about the money to be made in the country – from mortgages and retail lending to corporate loans, securitizations and capital markets.

Results index It is encouraging to find many European banks getting involved in the lynchpin of the European economy, small and medium-sized enterprises. In its German business, for example, Commerzbank has reoriented its global network towards internationally orientated Mittelstand clients (even if many of these are much bigger than the EU’s definition of an SME). Intesa Sanpaolo has improved methods of ensuring its SME loan growth in Italy is sustainable by identifying top-performing larger companies and then seeking to grow market share among those firms’ SME suppliers.

Euromoney names BNP Paribas as the world’s best bank and HSBC the world’s best investment bank for 2016; BBVA’s Francisco González is banker of the year and completes a great night for Europe.

Results index Santander wins the award for best bank for small and medium-sized enterprises in Latin America. The bank is reaping the rewards of its commitment to the sector after it launched a global platform for SMEs.

Banco de Credito del Peru is named as the best bank in the region; Citi retains investment banking award.

BNP Paribas wins region’s best bank award and is named best bank for transaction services and wealth management in western Europe; Barclays takes best investment bank title; ING, Santander and CaixaBank win inaugural regional awards in digital, CSR and SME categories respectively; ABN Amro stages the best bank transformation.

Akbank wins best bank in central and eastern Europe; Citi retains best investment bank in the region; UniCredit is best financing house for 2016.

Santander Mexico’s new CEO faces the challenge of evolving a business, while his predecessor keeps watch from the boardroom.

Extended results can be viewed here.

Deutsche Bank retains its position as the leading global trade-finance bank in this year’s Euromoney survey. The German bank and overall runner-up UniCredit also dominated the results by region and by product.

Trade Finance Survey 2016 full results Global 2016 2015 1 1 Deutsche Bank 2 2 UniCredit 3 3 Citi 4 4 HSBC 5 5 Commerzbank 6 14 Société Générale 7 12 RBS 8 6 Standard Chartered 9 20 ING 10 10 Santander

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Santander puts corporate and social responsibility at the heart of its culture. The bank undertakes a wide range of initiatives supporting higher education, sustainable communities and the environment and climate change.

It is the biggest and the best bank in a troubled market. The bank almost got an IPO away in 2011 before Argentina’s economy turned. The market hasn’t improved since then. But rather than sit and wait it out, the bank is investing heavily to be in the best possible shape when – if – the political and economic outlook improves.

Overall market share

On January 8, Santander took a volatile equity market by surprise, raising €7.5 billion ($8.9 billion) through an accelerated bookbuild, the largest such deal on record in the European equity capital markets.

Ana Botín has revamped the board of Santander, appointed a new management team and overseen a large and market-testing equity raise that reverses the capital-light policy of her father. Four months into the job, the new executive chairman now has the biggest challenge of all in her sights: achieving strong growth in a banking sector notable for its almost total absence

Best private banking services overall

UBS pushed into second place; majority of private banks globally expect improved revenues in 2015.

You’d have thought the new CEO of Santander needed little introduction. But Ana Botín’s advisers have played a cannily surgical game… so far.

European financial markets were shaken in September by the sudden death of Emilio Botín, the chairman of Banco Santander.

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Botín, the chairman of Santander, was a once-in-a-generation banker, who not only transformed Santander but stood out for his love of an industry in which he made his fortune.

Ever since Banco Santander was named Euromoney’s bank of the year for 2012, I have been keeping a wary eye on the Spanish lender, which is also Europe’s largest bank. The share price bottomed at approximately €4 around the time of the award. This was the same level reached in March 2009. Since last July, Santander shares rose, phoenix-like, to nearly €6.50 in late January 2013, before falling back a bit. Interestingly, the chart of Santander’s stock price is similar to that of the overall Spanish market (the IBEX 35) which is probably not surprising.

One of the big equity themes in Latin America in 2012 was that issuance from companies outside Brazil, and from Mexico in particular, enjoyed a strong year. Santander Mexico’s $4.1 billion IPO is one of the deals of the year because of its size and its secondary markets performance. In a domestic market dominated by foreign banks, Santander’s local listing is an important development for the bank and the market. It was the third-largest IPO in the world in 2012 and the second-largest-ever SEC-registered IPO by a Latin American issuer (behind Santander Brazil’s 2009 IPO). It also performed very well in the secondary markets. Contrasting with the two larger IPOs in 2012 – those of Facebook and Japan Airlines – the deal was trading up after five days and is still above the launch price (by 13%) at the time of going to press. Speaking to Euromoney immediately after the deal launched, underwriters said Santander, which was left lead, would have lost some of the large bids from long-only accounts had it tried to move the price above the middle of the range. It therefore opted to price at the middle of its Ps29 to Ps33 range to generate Ps52.81 billion. The global marketing effort incorporated anchor sales to sovereign wealth funds and a 14-day roadshow schedule, with three teams visiting 384 investors in 24 cities.