Global Finance is proud to present the winners of the 17th annual Stars of China Awards, honoring the best Chinese banks, fintech companies, asset management firms and enterprises serving China and the world. 

The Stars of China Awards are the preeminent evaluation of financial institutions and other organizations in China by international media, and they recognize institutions that excel in serving China in harmony with the nation’s goals and objectives.

A full list of the winners is presented on the following pages and will be published in the November print and digital editions and online at GFMag.com. The Stars of China Special Report will include Global Finance’s exclusive ranking of the Safest Banks in China. It will also include an in-depth look at the success stories behind the winners and their various approaches to excellence in the unique environment in China.

“As China navigates a challenging economic landscape, the banking and financial sectors stand at the forefront of this progress. Through the Stars of China awards, Global Finance celebrates the top-performing banks and asset managers who have demonstrated exceptional service and financial innovation,” said Joseph Giarraputo, founder and editorial director of Global Finance.

Winners will be honored at Global Finance’s Stars Of China Awards Ceremony on October 21 at the Pan Pacific in Beijing.

The full list of winners follows.

About Global Finance

Global Finance, founded in 1987, has a circulation of 50,000 and readers in 193 countries, territories and districts. Global Finance’s audience includes senior corporate and financial officers responsible for making investment and strategic decisions at multinational companies and financial institutions. Its website — GFMag.com — offers analysis and articles that are the legacy of 37 years of experience in international financial markets. Global Finance is headquartered in New York, with offices around the world. Global Finance regularly selects the top performers among banks and other providers of financial services. These awards have become a trusted standard of excellence for the global financial community.

Logo Use Rights

To obtain rights to use Global Finance’s Award Logos, please contact Chris Giarraputo at: chris@gfmag.com.

The unauthorized use of Global Finance Logos is strictly prohibited.

Global Finance magazine has released the names of Central Bank Governors who earned the highest grades, “A+”, “A” or “A-”, in the Central Banker Report Cards 2024. The full Central Banker Report Cards 2024 grade list will appear in Global Finance’s October print and digital editions as well as online at GFMag.com.

The Central Banker Report Cards, published annually by Global Finance since 1994, grade the central bank governors of nearly 100 key countries, territories and districts, as well as the European Union, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the Bank of Central African States and the Central Bank of West African States.

Grades are based on an “A+” to “F” scale for success in areas such as inflation control, economic growth goals, currency stability and interest rate management. (“A” represents an excellent performance, down through “F” for outright failure.)

“Central bankers have waged war against inflation over the past few years, wielding their primary weapon: higher interest rates. Now, countries around the world are witnessing the tangible results of these efforts, as inflation has dropped significantly,” said Global Finance founder and editorial director Joseph Giarraputo. “Global Finance’s annual Central Banker Report Cards honor those bank leaders whose strategies outperformed their peers through originality, creativity and tenacity.”

Denmark Christian Kettel Thomsen

India Shaktikanta Das  

Switzerland Thomas Jordan

Brazil Roberto Campos Neto

Chile Rosanna Costa

Mauritius Harvesh Kumar Seegolam

Morocco Abdellatif Jouahri

South Africa Lesetja Kganyago

Sri Lanka Nandalal Weerasinghe

Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong

Cambodia Chea Serey

Canada Tiff Macklem

Costa Rica Roger Madrigal Lopez

Dominican Republic Héctor Valdez Albizu

European Union Christine Lagarde

Guatemala Alvaro Gonzalez Ricci

Indonesia Perry Warjiyo

Jamaica Richard Byles

Jordan Adel Al-Sharkas

Mongolia Byadran Lkhagvasuren

Norway Ida Wolden Bache

Peru Julio Velarde Flores

Philippines Eli Remolona

Sweden Erik Thedéen 

USA Jerome Hayden Powell

###

For editorial information, please contact Andrea Fiano, editor, afiano@gfmag.com

About Global Finance

Global Finance, founded in 1987, has a circulation of 50,000 and readers in 193 countries and territories. Global Finance’s audience includes senior corporate and financial officers responsible for making investment and strategic decisions at multinational companies and financial institutions. Its website — GFMag.com — offers analysis and articles that are the legacy of 37 years of experience in international financial markets. Global Finance is headquartered in New York, with offices around the world. Global Finance regularly selects the top performers among banks and other providers of financial services. These awards have become a trusted standard of excellence for the global financial community.

Logo Use Rights

To obtain rights to use Global Finance’s Award Logos, please contact Chris Giarraputo at: chris@gfmag.com.

The unauthorized use of Global Finance Logos is strictly prohibited.

Global Finance has announced the Round One winners for the 2024 World’s Best Digital Bank Awards. 

The press release linked at the bottom of the page cover the Best Islamic Digital Banks.

Also being announced are the 2024 winners for:

• Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Banks by Regional Sub-category and by individual Country, Territory and District

• Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Bank Subcategory Winners by Country, Territory and District

• Best Consumer Digital Banks by Regional Sub-category and by individual Country

• Best Consumer Digital Bank Subcategory Winners by Country, Territory and District

This is the 25th year Global Finance has named the World’s Best Digital Banks. Details on all Round One winners will be published in the September print and digital editions as well as online at GFMag.com. 

Round One winners are eligible for consideration in Round Two. Round Two honorees, which include the overall Regional and Global winners, and the Global Sub-category winners, will be revealed for the first time at Global Finance’s 2024 World’s Best Digital Banks Awards Ceremony on October 1 at London’s landmark Banking Hall. A full report on the Round Two winners and the awards ceremony will be published in December.

Winners were chosen from entries evaluated by a world-class panel of judges at Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing. The editors of Global Finance were responsible for the final selection of all winners.

Only banks that entered the competition were considered for awards, and awards were only given in those categories, regions, countries, territories and districts in which there were entries.

Winning banks were selected based on the following criteria: strength of strategy for attracting and servicing digital customers, success in getting clients to use digital offerings, growth of digital customers, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from digital initiatives, and web/mobile site design and functionality. Sub-category winners were selected based on the relative strength and success of those web products and services.

“The rapid advancements in fintech, the rise of digital currencies, and the increasing importance of cybersecurity are continually redefining the benchmarks for exceptional digital banking services,” said Joseph Giarraputo, founder and editorial director of Global Finance. “Global Finance’s Best Digital Bank Awards celebrate the financial institutions that are leading the way with innovative digital solutions and setting new standards in the industry.”

Global Finance has announced the Round One winners for the 2024 World’s Best Digital Bank Awards. 

The press releases linked at the bottom of the page cover the Best Consumer Digital Bank Sub-category winners by Country, Territory and District.

Also being announced are the 2024 winners for:

• Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Banks by Regional Sub-category and by individual Country, Territory and District

• Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Bank Subcategory Winners by Country, Territory and District

• Best Consumer Digital Banks by Regional Sub-category and by individual Country, Territory and District

• Best Islamic Digital Banks

This is the 25th year Global Finance has named the World’s Best Digital Banks. Details on all Round One winners will be published in the September print and digital editions as well as online at GFMag.com. 

Round One winners are eligible for consideration in Round Two. Round Two honorees, which include the overall Regional and Global winners, and the Global Sub-category winners, will be revealed for the first time at Global Finance’s 2024 World’s Best Digital Banks Awards Ceremony on October 1 at London’s landmark Banking Hall. A full report on the Round Two winners and the awards ceremony will be published in December.

Winners were chosen from entries evaluated by a world-class panel of judges at Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing. The editors of Global Finance were responsible for the final selection of all winners.

Only banks that entered the competition were considered for awards, and awards were only given in those categories, regions, countries territories and districts in which there were entries.

Winning banks were selected based on the following criteria: strength of strategy for attracting and servicing digital customers, success in getting clients to use digital offerings, growth of digital customers, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from digital initiatives, and web/mobile site design and functionality. Sub-category winners were selected based on the relative strength and success of those web products and services.

“The rapid advancements in fintech, the rise of digital currencies, and the increasing importance of cybersecurity are continually redefining the benchmarks for exceptional digital banking services,” said Joseph Giarraputo, founder and editorial director of Global Finance. “Global Finance’s Best Digital Bank Awards celebrate the financial institutions that are leading the way with innovative digital solutions and setting new standards in the industry.”

Global Finance has announced the Round One winners for the 2024 World’s Best Digital Bank Awards. 

The press releases linked at the bottom of the page cover the Best Consumer Digital Banks by Regional Sub-category and by individual Country, Territory and District.

Also being announced are the 2024 winners for:

• Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Banks by Regional Sub-category and by individual Country, Territory and District

• Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Bank Sub-category winners by Country, Territory and District

• Best Consumer Digital Bank Sub-category winners by Country, Territory and District

• Best Islamic Digital Banks

This is the 25th year Global Finance has named the World’s Best Digital Banks. Details on all Round One winners will be published in the September print and digital editions as well as online at GFMag.com. 

Round One winners are eligible for consideration in Round Two. Round Two honorees, which include the overall Regional and Global winners, and the Global Sub-category winners, will be revealed for the first time at Global Finance’s 2024 World’s Best Digital Banks Awards Ceremony on October 1 at London’s landmark Banking Hall. A full report on the Round Two winners and the awards ceremony will be published in December.

Winners were chosen from entries evaluated by a world-class panel of judges at Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing. The editors of Global Finance were responsible for the final selection of all winners.

Only banks that entered the competition were considered for awards, and awards were only given in those categories, regions, countries, territories and districts in which there were entries.

Winning banks were selected based on the following criteria: strength of strategy for attracting and servicing digital customers, success in getting clients to use digital offerings, growth of digital customers, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from digital initiatives, and web/mobile site design and functionality. Sub-category winners were selected based on the relative strength and success of those web products and services.

“The rapid advancements in fintech, the rise of digital currencies, and the increasing importance of cybersecurity are continually redefining the benchmarks for exceptional digital banking services,” said Joseph Giarraputo, founder and editorial director of Global Finance. “Global Finance’s Best Digital Bank Awards celebrate the financial institutions that are leading the way with innovative digital solutions and setting new standards in the industry.”

Global Finance has announced the Round One winners for the 2024 World’s Best Digital Bank Awards. 

The press releases linked at the bottom of the page cover the Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Bank Sub-category winners by Country, Territory and District.

Also being announced are the 2024 winners for:

• Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Banks by Regional Sub-category and by individual Country, Territory and District

• Best Consumer Digital Banks by Regional Sub-category and by individual Country, Territory and District

• Best Consumer Digital Bank Sub-category winners by Country, Territory and District

• Best Islamic Digital Banks

This is the 25th year Global Finance has named the World’s Best Digital Banks. Details on all Round One winners will be published in the September print and digital editions as well as online at GFMag.com. 

Round One winners are eligible for consideration in Round Two. Round Two honorees, which include the overall Regional and Global winners, and the Global Sub-category winners, will be revealed for the first time at Global Finance’s 2024 World’s Best Digital Banks Awards Ceremony on October 1 at London’s landmark Banking Hall. A full report on the Round Two winners and the awards ceremony will be published in December.

Winners were chosen from entries evaluated by a world-class panel of judges at Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing. The editors of Global Finance were responsible for the final selection of all winners.

Only banks that entered the competition were considered for awards, and awards were only given in those categories, regions, countries, territories and districts in which there were entries.

Winning banks were selected based on the following criteria: strength of strategy for attracting and servicing digital customers, success in getting clients to use digital offerings, growth of digital customers, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from digital initiatives, and web/mobile site design and functionality. Sub-category winners were selected based on the relative strength and success of those web products and services.

“The rapid advancements in fintech, the rise of digital currencies, and the increasing importance of cybersecurity are continually redefining the benchmarks for exceptional digital banking services,” said Joseph Giarraputo, founder and editorial director of Global Finance. “Global Finance’s Best Digital Bank Awards celebrate the financial institutions that are leading the way with innovative digital solutions and setting new standards in the industry.”

Global Finance has announced the Round One winners for the 2024 World’s Best Digital Bank Awards. 

The press releases linked at the bottom of the page cover the Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Banks by Regional Sub-category and by individual Country, Territory and District.

Also being announced are the 2024 winners for:

• Best Corporate/Institutional Digital Bank Sub-category winners by Country, Territory and District

• Best Consumer Digital Banks by Regional Sub-category and by individual Country, Territory and District

• Best Consumer Digital Bank Sub-category winners by Country, Territory and District

• Best Islamic Digital Banks

This is the 25th year Global Finance has named the World’s Best Digital Banks. Details on all Round One winners will be published in the September print and digital editions as well as online at GFMag.com. 

Round One winners are eligible for consideration in Round Two. Round Two honorees, which include the overall Regional and Global winners, and the Global Sub-category winners, will be revealed for the first time at Global Finance’s 2024 World’s Best Digital Banks Awards Ceremony on October 1 at London’s landmark Banking Hall. A full report on the Round Two winners and the awards ceremony will be published in December.

Winners were chosen from entries evaluated by a world-class panel of judges at Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing. The editors of Global Finance were responsible for the final selection of all winners.

Only banks that entered the competition were considered for awards, and awards were only given in those categories, regions, countries, territories and districts in which there were entries.

Winning banks were selected based on the following criteria: strength of strategy for attracting and servicing digital customers, success in getting clients to use digital offerings, growth of digital customers, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from digital initiatives, and web/mobile site design and functionality. Sub-category winners were selected based on the relative strength and success of those web products and services.

“The rapid advancements in fintech, the rise of digital currencies, and the increasing importance of cybersecurity are continually redefining the benchmarks for exceptional digital banking services,” said Joseph Giarraputo, founder and editorial director of Global Finance. “Global Finance’s Best Digital Bank Awards celebrate the financial institutions that are leading the way with innovative digital solutions and setting new standards in the industry.”

Modern treasuries face a diverse array of demands, such as real-time payments, high inflation and interest rates, and new compliance and sustainable finance obligations. Faced with foreign exchange and interest rate volatility, the complexities of instant payments and liquidity-risk challenges place a sharp focus on banking partners as treasurers endeavor to safeguard their company’s financial well-being.

Bank of America (BofA), our award winner as Best Bank for Transaction Banking and Best Bank for Collections, works closely with large global organizations that have accounts in multiple currencies, helping them to create liquidity strategies to optimize working capital and weather unpredictable market dynamics. According to Mark Monaco, head of Global Transaction Services, it involves bringing awareness of BofA’s existing solutions, built over the years, and then proactively advising clients on which ones address the various challenges they may face, such as forecasting, increasing costs, and the need to optimize return on cash. “Many corporates have limited experience dealing with uncertainty, especially when combined with very high interest rates, and are unsure how to plan or adjust,” says Monaco. “Some may lack the appropriate treasury management solutions or may not know how to maximize liquidity process efficiency.”

Higher interest rates make unplanned funding shortfalls more expensive, he adds. “These shortfalls are more likely if a company has not fully automated its processes. Resistance to making operational investments when interest rates are high results in many companies looking to cut costs and becoming hesitant to make substantial investments in treasury management solutions.”

As rates change, treasurers may be unsure about how to continue optimizing the value of cash balances and may fall back on “safe” approaches that may not be flexible enough to keep up with the changing economic environment.

Monaco says that in addition to rising rates, high inflation increases the cost of goods and services, eating into liquidity and cash reserves.

“Another factor impacting the delivery of treasury and cash management solutions is the rapidly changing regulatory environment,” adds Monaco. “Across the world, markets are facing new compliance obligations spurred by developments in real-time payments schemes, AML/KYC [anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer measures], cyber threats, sanctions compliance, and data sharing and localization. Companies and their partner banks are having to enhance and improve both infrastructure and processes as a result.”

BofA brought all payments activities under a new Global Payments Solutions division in recognition of the strategic importance of payments to the bank.

Citi, our winner as Best Bank for Cash Management, Best Corporate Cross-Border Payments Solution, and Best Bank for Long-Term Liquidity Management, also recently combined Treasury and Trade Solutions and Securities Services under one umbrella. At the June Citi 2024 Services Investor Day, Shahmir Khaliq, head of Services, noted that “it made sense to bring these businesses together under one portfolio, as they have strong synergies across our entire institutional client base.”

“Our clients are looking for fully integrated solutions across the entire continuum of accept, hold, pay, and finance as they look to scale quickly and globally,” added Debopama Sen, head of Payments at Citi, at the time. She added that acceptance capabilities are powered by Spring by Citi, an end-to-end digital payment acceptance solution. Hold capabilities include integrated liquidity and a banking-as-a-service offering that allows e-commerce clients to serve their merchants and seller customers. Payment solutions then enable clients to manage payouts globally, including navigation of cross-border complexities. And finally, Sen pointed out that for finance, Citi offers tailored offerings for e-commerce businesses, including the ability to offer flexible financing options and working capital management solutions.

According to Lisa Vasic, managing director of Transaction Banking at ANZ, our Best Bank for Payments, instant payment systems and real-time gross settlement now form part of a broader payments ecosystem. “Connected, automated, insight-driven, and always on, they provide corporate treasuries with an efficient, effective, and safe way to manage their liquidity and working capital, giving them greater control over financial transactions.”

The complex nature of corporate treasury cash management means the adoption has been slower among consumers; but as awareness of the benefits grows, customers are showing significant interest in exploring the path toward a real-time treasury.

“In response,” Vasic explains, “banks across the globe will need to evolve their systems, processes, and security controls to adapt to a 24/7, always-on environment. It’s not about simply turning on a new settlement capability; it’s about re-imagining business processes in light of what the technology can enable, redefining the standard of service that customers have come to expect, and working closely with them to create experiences for their clients.”

Over the past seven years, ANZ has significantly invested in technology to offer unprecedented flexibility and transparency.  Vasic adds that ANZ’s payments and cash management business success is the result of long-term system and platform investments  that support customer transactions, while not losing sight of the basics. “As banks continue to invest in digital transformation, it’s crucial to think long-term and to recognize the complexities, opportunities, and challenges. Ultimately, competition and innovation in the industry are driving better outcomes for clients.”

Having released a whitelabeling service for its enhanced liquidity management solutions LiquidityDirect and an open-banking payments solution (Bankify) that helps organizations receive consumer payments from bank accounts in 2023, BNY is our Best Bank for Financial Institutions and Best White Label System Provider – Bank. The bank has enabled a real broadening of treasury and cash management solutions.

Backbase wins as Best White Label System Provider – Non-Bank, offering white-label engagement banking solutions to more than 40 business banks, credit unions, and community banks around the world. These include Coutts, National Bank of Canada, BECU, and Standard Bank, who leverage the Backbase platform to drive customer loyalty and wallet share across onboarding, loan origination, daily banking, and investments.

If strong cash flow is important to large corporations, it is the lifeblood of small to midsize enterprises (SMEs). To better serve them, Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), winner as Best Provider of Short-Term Investments/Money Market Funds, created the Small and Midsize Industry Financing (SMIF) bond—a unique product aimed at securing stable financing for SMEs.

During periods of market volatility, SMIF bonds exhibit two distinct strengths that make them a preferred choice for funding. “SMIF bonds enjoy a superior credit rating compared to other bank bonds, leveraging IBK’s strong creditworthiness as a government-owned bank. According to Moody’s, while bank bonds are mostly rated Aa3, SMIF bonds are rated Aa2. This higher rating enhances their attractiveness as a liquid asset. In 2023, SMIF bonds saw an annual issuance of 50.7 trillion South Korean won [about $36.7 billion], with an outstanding balance reaching KRW73.8 trillion by year’s end,” states Kim Sung-tae, chairman and CEO at IBK. “During uncertain market conditions characterized by investor risk aversion and cautious attitudes, SMIF bonds’ higher credit rating provides a significant advantage over traditional bank bonds.”

The bonds also provide greater investment diversity—offering various options to a wide range of investors, including individuals, corporations, and institutional clients. “Amid uncertainty, where short-term fund management demands rise, SMIF bonds cater to varied investor needs regarding investment duration and strategies. The bonds provide flexible maturity periods ranging from 30 to 364 days and offer investment structures such as lump-sum and installment plans,” Kim says. “Additionally, to meet growing market demands for ESG [environmental, social, and governance] investments, SMIF bonds are also issued in ESG-bond formats, effectively addressing the diverse preferences of investors.”

As companies of all sizes strive to improve cash management systems in a cost-effective way, they will seek out the financial institutions that can provide the best tools to enhance treasury processes in a nimble manner, helping treasurers to be proactive in the current uncertain economic market.

Global Finance editors select the winners for the Best Treasury & Cash Management Awards with input from industry analysts, corporate executives and technology experts. The editors also use entries submitted by financial services providers, as well as independent research, to evaluate a series of objective and subjective factors. It is not necessary to enter in order to win, but experience shows that the additional information supplied in an entry can increase the chances of success. In many cases, entrants are able to present details and insights that may not be readily available to the editors of Global Finance.

 This year’s ratings are based on the period from January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023. 

Global Finance uses a proprietary algorithm with criteria—such as knowledge of local conditions and corporate customer needs, quality of product and service offerings, financial strength and safety, market standing, compliance and excellent customer service—weighted for relative importance. The algorithm incorporates various ratings into a single numerical score, with 100 equivalent to perfection. In cases where more than one institution earns the same score, we favor local providers over global institutions, and privately owned banks over government-owned ones.

The winners are those financial services providers that best meet the specialized needs of corporations engaged in global business. These top-notch finance institutions are not always the biggest, but rather the best—those with qualities that companies should look for when choosing a provider.

As the dynamic payments landscape presents both challenges and opportunities for corporate treasury, it’s unsurprising that financial institutions are finding new ways to help treasurers leverage new payments trends to improve efficiency, manage risk, and support business growth.

Banking Circle is the winner of our award for Best Embedded Treasury Solution, providing the core financial infrastructure that allows businesses to build and offer embedded financial solutions. Embedded finance features include global payments, virtual accounts (VAs), and account management.

Nordea, which wins two awards this year, as both Best Fraud Detection Solution and Best Bank for Treasury FX Services, has developed a new secure Cash Management self-service request. Meanwhile, Nordea’s foreign exchange (FX) automation has evolved into a “comprehensive treasury management autopilot” that includes daily FX, FX hedging, and money market products, according to the bank.

Tailoring treasury management tools requires a nimble approach, owing to the diversity of client needs. Backbase is another winner of two awards, as Best Non-Bank for Treasury FX Services and for Best A/P & A/R Integrated Solution. Jarno van Hurne, head of Business Banking and VP Product, says business banks and their relationship managers face unique challenges when it comes to modernizing customer experiences. “This is due to the extremely diverse and complex needs of their client base, often ranging from sole proprietors to large corporate clients,” he says. “Backbase’s ‘buy for speed and build for differentiation’ approach provides a unique way to effectively cater to the needs of all these segments without having to build different applications from scratch or settling for one-size-fits-all, disconnected point solutions.”

With over 400 out-of-the-box composable business capabilities and digital journeys, including accounts payable (A/P) and receivable (A/R), banks can quickly create tailored, segment-specific applications and services for their customers and employees: from onboarding to origination, servicing, and investing. “The fact that these capabilities are not only fully extendable, but also reusable across channels and apps, means financial institutions can get to market faster; ensure a consistent, high-quality experience; and focus their development efforts on innovation rather than foundational plumbing,” van Hurne explains.

In January, JPMorgan Chase, our winner as Outstanding Web and Merchant Acquirer – Bank, unveiled a full-stack omnichannel platform, including online and in-store payments. It will also include biometric phone-free payments.

Although not a traditional merchant acquirer, Stripe is our Outstanding Web and Merchant Acquirer – Non-Bank, as a payment-service provider simplifying the payment process for businesses by combining the roles of payment processor and acquirer into a single service and offering businesses a range of tools and services to accept online payments seamlessly.

Herve Carrere, chief product and technology officer in the Treasury and Capital Markets Business Unit at Best Cloud Managed TCM Services award winner Finastra, says, “When combined, cloud and an API [application programming interface] marketplace can significantly transform treasury services by providing a unified solution for all treasury functions, leveraging cloud computing power with API access to various data sources. Customers can enable advanced analytics and insights, improving decision-making and strategic planning. With this model, treasurers can become much more agile, adopting new technologies and services quickly, and innovating continuously to meet changing market demands.” This combination, he adds, offers significant benefits by enhancing efficiency and operational resilience.

The Best Treasury Management Software award goes to ION Treasury Wallstreet Suite, the result of an ambitious program involving more than 100 people over five years, reengineering Wallstreet Suite. Capitalizing on the long-standing strengths of ION’s treasury management system in trading, risk, and accounting, it now includes an open and modular architecture based on real-time web dashboards, and a 360° payments hub with high volume capabilities. Boasting a robust back office, it provides treasury analytics with real-time key performance indicators, a modern and intuitive user experience, process automation, and exception-based management.

Payable, another double winner, takes both Best Cash Forecasting Solution and Best Treasury Analytics Provider. Payable built an intuitive API and dashboard with a reconciliation engine powered by artificial intelligence (AI), and with payments automation and cash management modules that seamlessly connect customers’ finance stack (including payment service providers, business tools, and banks) with leading accounting and enterprise resource planning platforms with no engineering effort.

FAB wins for the Best Virtual Accounts Solution for Corporates. VAs help streamline the payment process and improve cash flow management; and Anand Sampath, FAB’s Managing Director, Head – Global Payments & Collections, says VAs offer corporates an efficient and cost-effective way to manage and concentrate cash. “All transaction flows routed through VAs are immediately reflected in the underlying physical header account, providing immediate visibility of cash and (in terms of collections) an easy identification of payers who settled funds in their favor, for example.”

“Corporate treasurers,” Sampath adds, “can also see high efficiencies in implementing VA structures, in terms of rationalizing accounts maintained across their bank providers. For certain use cases, VAs allow the easy segregation of funds settled by various counterparties or customers, wherein corporates can determine the total amounts received from institutional customers over a given period of time.”

VAs help reduce—and eventually eliminate—various costs associated in managing multiple physical accounts, he says. “This includes the costs of maintaining balances, managing multiple access rights to monitor the cash balances and the administrative costs associated with periodic due diligence activities. Additionally, payment processing can be controlled at the VA level by setting spending limits for certain periods, even if cash is available at subentity levels.”

ICD takes home the Best Investment Management Solution award. This institutional investment technology provider serves more than 500 treasury organizations (including approximately 17% of the S&P 100, as of December 31, 2023) across 65 industries and 46 countries, trading money market funds and other short-term investments. ICD launched an AI portfolio analytics solution for corporate treasury investment reporting.

Treasury is not immune to the transformative capabilities of AI, and FIS Global wins the award for Most Innovative Treasury Solution with its Integrity SaaS Solution. This software-as-a-service (SaaS) system will be among the first corporate-facing treasury technologies to embed generative AI (GenAI). “There are countless GenAI possibilities for treasury, applying to every area of treasury operations: from the automation of basic cash positioning, to improved decision-making in complex areas like foreign exchange and interest rate risk management,” states Steve Wiley, vice president of Treasury Solutions at FIS. “Treasury, along with many other industries, finds itself in the midst of an AI revolution, one that will radically transform how treasury operations work.”

To counter the challenges of a growing number of payment types and file formats, Fides Treasury Services, winner of the Best Cross-Border Payments Solution for Corporates award, maintains a payment library consisting of thousands of unique payment formats to help streamline transactions to even the smallest of banks. Over 4,000 companies connect to more than 13,000 banks worldwide via the Fides platform, which processes over $6 trillion every year. Whether it’s payment files, FX confirmations, or trade finance messages, Fides ensures compatibility with any bank’s file formatting or local attribute requirements.

Standard Chartered takes Best Open Banking Treasury Solution. Through a VA solution, client PingPong has seen tangible and quantifiable results such as accelerated market entry, faster collections, revenue growth, cost reduction, and an overall enhanced customer experience.

“As businesses transform their operating models into platforms to meet consumer and supply chain demands, open banking revolutionizes the financial landscape through driving digital product innovation, facilitating collaboration and healthy competition between ecosystem partners, and offering improved client experiences,” states Mahesh Kini, global head of Cash Management at Standard Chartered. “Through secured sharing of information across different platform participants, it provides consumers access to a wider range of services and offers businesses data-driven insights and new opportunities.”

The cloud, open banking, APIs, and AI are all working together to transform corporate treasury into a more data-driven, automated, and strategic function within corporations, while reshaping how financial services are delivered and consumed.  

Faced with high interest rates and inflation, companies in Western Europe are turning to their banking partners to find ways to optimize cash flow and protect its value.

Societe Generale, our winner this year as Best Bank for Transaction Banking, has developed a Sustainable GTB (global transaction banking) Framework—one of the first dedicated to asset-based GTB solutions—to enhance the ability of the bank and its clients to assess and monitor the environmental and social impacts of their day-to-day working capital, trade, and liquidity management. “It is particularly intended for corporate treasurers, who have a crucial role to play in the corporates’ ESG strategy but who are currently facing the absence of mature market standards for sustainable GTB solutions while having a growing need to quantify the impact of their transactions and fulfill corresponding reporting requirements,” explains David Abitbol, head of Global Transaction and Payment Services at Societe Generale.

He says the framework provides clear and transparent definitions of sustainable GTB solutions (those that can be considered green, social, etc.) and the associated requirements that apply at both client and transaction levels. It specifies activities with positive environmental and/or social impacts (such as renewable energy projects, clean transportation, or sustainable wastewater management) covered by trade finance instruments or short-term financing. Monitoring will include reporting on impact indicators such as CO2 emissions avoided; renewable-energy-produced MWh; passengers or tonnes per kilometer; or annual amount of wastewater treated, reused, or avoided—both before and after the project.

This framework is based on an efficient and transparent ESG-qualification process made public and available to clients. The bank said in a statement, “This methodology has been established in the spirit of best market practices, such as the Green or Social Loan Principles, while considering the specificities of GTB.”

In addition to the Benelux region (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), Best Bank for Cash Management award winner ING is well positioned in Germany and Ireland. A leading supply chain finance provider in Benelux in terms of volume and the number of existing programs, ING continues to develop its footprint within the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and the Nordics.

With a large international network, BNP Paribas, which takes the award for Best Corporate Cross-Border Payments Solution, boasts an extensive reach to facilitate smooth cross-border transactions. This is bolstered by expertise in foreign exchange and in real-time tracking and management of cross-border payments.

Matthew Davies is head of Global Payments Solutions (GPS) for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa and global co-head of GPS Corporate Sales at Bank of America (BofA), winner of two awards this year, as Best Bank for Payments and Best Bank for Collections. He says BofA is constantly looking at ways to provide its clients with more insights into their data, including payments-based insights.

“It means they can be much more autonomous and predictive with understanding all of their different payment flows,” states Davies. “They can uncover if payments are optimized, being sent on the most appropriate rails, where they are, and if they are duplicating payments to suppliers in different parts of the world, etc.”

Nordea, the winner as Best Bank for Long-Term Liquidity Management, can help treasurers optimize their liquidity and gain more visibility and control over their cash, with the added benefit of real-time reporting and constant transparency of their liquidity position.

Sustainable finance is another key area in which banks are showing the way across Europe. The Best Provider of Short-Term Investments/Money Market Funds, Royal London Asset Management, manages $9.2 billion. Royal London Short Term Money Market Fund, a low-risk investment option, yielding 5.5% over the past year, with high liquidity and good ESG credentials. Companies are also exploring the potential of new technologies like open banking application programming interfaces (APIs) for efficient data exchange and streamlined payments. BofA has over 1,600 API clients globally and this continues to grow. Davies says clients are using APIs more to get real-time access to information—constantly pulling data and transactions, for example, to embed in their own systems.