Indonesia’s Bank Central Asia has been crowned Best Asian Bank for the fourth year in a row, standing out among banks from 18 Asian countries in FinanceAsia’s award ceremony at The St. Regis Hong Kong on Thursday night.
Jahja Setiaatmadja, president director and chief executive of BCA, accepted the prestigious award at FinanceAsia’s Country Awards 2019 gala dinner, which was once again well-attended by bankers and lawyers across the region.
“BCA demonstrated an unerring ability to continue growing without impinging on asset quality,” said Alison Tudor-Ackroyd, managing editor of FinanceAsia. “It is in a league of its own.”
FinanceAsia's Best Asian Bank award is decided by comparing all the award winners from 18 regions across a variety of metrics, including net interest margins, return on assets and earnings per share.
Non-financial metrics like product innovation, digitalisation, as well as environmental, social and governance standards are also taken into consideration.
HSBC was also in the spotlight. The team was called onto the stage nine times for multiple awards across the region, including a grand slam of six domestic banking awards in Hong Kong.
SSI snapped up three awards including Best Investment Bank, Best ECM House and Best Broker in Vietnam, one of the fastest growing markets in the region last year.
In Indonesia, Mandiri Sekuritas was crowned Best Investment Bank, Best DCM House and Best Broker.
FinanceAsia also extended its famous tradition of challenging guests with brain-racking questions in a highly competitive quiz, including a newly added interactive session that required not only deep knowledge, but also quick responses to the questions.
Eventually it was Goldman Sachs that claimed the Quiz Master award with an impressive score of 21 points and that took home a dozen bottles of champagne.
Check out a selection of the evening's photos below. We will publish more photos of the event in due course.
FinanceAsia would like to congratulate all winners once again and is looking forward to meeting everyone again next year.