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The obsession about Goldman Sachs in the financial world – not least among its competitors – is nothing new.

The Ukranian economy has been coping well under the pressures of domestic political uncertainty and global financial turmoil. In 2007, GDP grew by 7.3%, while retail sales increased by 28.8%. And Ukrsibbank has continued along its own growth curve. Majority owned by BNP Paribas since April 2006, the bank is the third largest in the Ukraine in terms of assets, shareholders equity and loan portfolio. Although PrivatBank and Raiffeisen Bank Aval are bigger, they cannot match Ukrsibbank’s dynamism.

Not only is Bancolombia the only Colombian bank to have a level-three ADR programme with shares listed in New York, it also successfully raised a further $445 million of equity in July last year through this programme. These shares offer a rare opportunity for investors to gain exposure to Colombia. These funds, along with $590 million in loans, were earmarked to pay for Bancolombia’s acquisition of Salvadorean bank Banco Agricola Comercial de el Salvador.

The contest for the best bank in France title this year was no less predictable than the French Open final, which went yet again to Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

While Fortis has been bulking up across the border and in private banking and asset management thanks to some hearty chunks of ABN Amro, KBC has managed reasonable organic growth at home. The bank’s domestic mortgage book grew 10% and it also succeeded in increasing the net interest income of its Belgian retail business by 10% despite a significant shift out of investment funds into deposits.

Despite increasing competition, Raiffeisen banka maintains its top billing in Serbia. On the retail front it boosted its customer base by 20% in 2007 to just short of 500,000, while growing its retail deposit and loan volumes by 32% and 26% respectively. There was a similarly strong performance in the corporate banking segment, with corporate lending rising by 24% to reach almost $1.2 billion, while deposits rose to $830 million. Raiffeisen banka was particularly successful in boosting its business with small and micro-sized enterprises, increasing its client base by 36% and its lending by 47% to reach $312 million. The bank also has a leading market position in the treasury business, accounting for a 19% share of foreign exchange trading for retail customers and 13.68% for banking clients. As a result of all these advances in 2007, the bank boosted its net profit by 60% and its return on equity climbed to 21.4% from 16.6% in 2006.

DnB Nor Bank is one of Norway’s largest banks and part of the DnB Nor Group, which also includes brands such DnB Nord, which has cut a dash across a number of markets including the Baltic republics in recent years. With a domestic market share of almost 30% in retail lending and deposits and a similar level of corporate deposits, DnB Nor Bank has an established position. But it continues to grow at an impressive rate: it recorded a healthy 18.6% rise in profits in 2007, largely as a result of higher volumes. Lending rose 17%, deposits grew by 12.9% and income by 9.6%.

DBS is the bank that every Singaporean grows up with: almost the entire population are consumer customers. That legacy hasn’t always been of assistance to DBS as it has tried to transform itself from a sleepy deposit bank to a regional powerhouse. However, it has given it the most powerful franchise in the country.

BRD remains the bank to watch in Romania, having reported the highest net profit of any Romanian bank in 2007. Net profit rose by 43% to €279 million-equivalent. Despite sizeable investments in technology, network expansion and staff recruitment and training, which helped it to attract 300,000 new customers in 2007, BRD still maintained its position as the most profitable bank in Romania, with a return on equity of 35.4%. On the retail side, the bank boosted lending by 45% as well as launching a new life insurance arm, BRD Fond de Pensii. In corporate banking, the bank provides a comprehensive range of products and services spanning small businesses through to multinational corporations. With regard to investment banking, BRD has continued to build its corporate finance, brokerage and asset management operations, which should ensure that fee income helps mitigate any slowdown in interest income resulting from a drop.

The past year has been difficult for some of Bahrain’s leading banks. Both Gulf International Bank and Arab Banking Corporation fell victim to the US sub-prime crisis: GIB undertook a $966 million write-down, and Arab Banking Corporation wrote down $230 million.