Banco SantanderThe acquisition of the Uruguayan assets of last year’s winner has helped Banco Santander into the winning position this year. It consolidates Santander as the biggest privately owned bank in the country, and second largest by assets – beaten only by the state-held Banco Republica.
Emirates NBDEmirates NBD, the resultant entity from the merger of Emirates Bank International and National Bank of Dubai in October 2007, is not only the largest bank in the Middle East by assets, but the new entity has undergone important transformational changes and delivered superior results in 2007 and 2008.
Nova Kreditna banka MariborNova Kreditna banka Maribor’s (NKBM) initial public offering late last year of a 49% stake, the country’s first since independence, was considered the best initial public offering (IPO) in the central and eastern Europe region in the past year by specialist CEE investor East Capital.
Bank PekaoBank Pekao finally completed its lengthy and complex restructuring over the past year, which included completing the merger of Pekao and BPH, spinning off – at the request of the Polish authorities – 200 branches and the brand name of BPH (which subsequently merged with the Polish subsidiary of GE Money), and merging Pekao’s two Ukrainian operations with each other and then with parent company UniCredit’s new purchase, Ukrsotsbank.
Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI)Confronted with stiffer competition, narrower margins and volatile markets, the Philippines’ number one player, Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI), has succeeded in delivering strong asset growth of 9.3% for fiscal year 2007, combined with a rise in net profits of 10.8% during the same period.
Banco GeneralWhen Banco General finalised its merger with Banco Continental at the end of last year, it became the second largest bank in Panama, with assets exceeding $7bn, a loan portfolio of $4.5bn and a capital base of $800m. It also created a bank network of more than 60 branches and a customer base exceeding more than 345,000 clients.
Khan BankWith strong expansion in all sectors, Khan Bank became the largest bank in Mongolia in 2007, with the highest post-tax profits at $16.6m and the highest return on equity at 45.9%. Khan increased Tier 1 capital by 79.6% to $48.7m and saw assets rise by 74.25% to $513.3m as Mongolia’s economy booms.