World’s Best Digital Banks 2020 Round 1: Covid Raises The Digital Ante

The global health crisis is forcing banks to accelerate digital transformation. Customers are responding.

It used to be that banks viewed digital transformation as something that evolved in fits and spurts, in line with legislation and customer preference. That’s been upended by the Covid-19 pandemic, as remote operation has suddenly become imperative.

Legacy infrastructure has long held banks back, but the need for digital and contact-free solutions is pushing them to find new ways to create safe and efficient services for customers. The good news is that banks are earning praise for helping customers go digital and remote and for making it easier for those under financial stress to secure assistance. Increased uptake of digital services by both consumers and corporates, moreover, is accelerating change.

This year’s Best Digital Bank awards, judged by the editors of Global Finance and vetted by our partner Infosys, reflect banks’ responses to the demands and opportunities the pandemic poses for them. Round 1 includes country-level and regional awards in Corporate/Institutional and Consumer subcategories. Round 2—global winners—will be featured in the December issue.

“Digital has been at the forefront of our engagement with clients for some time, helping clients drive transformation of their businesses to realize new strategic opportunities across commercial business units and treasury operations,” says John Laurens, group head of Global Transaction Services at DBS, winner for Most Innovative Digital Bank in the Asia-Pacific region as well as several other awards.

Covid-19 accelerated DBS clients’ adoption of digital solutions by as much as two to four years in the first half of 2020, Laurens says. He credits this in large part to the bank’s success at delivering application programming interface (API) solutions that enable clients to integrate instant, contactless payment solutions into their business processes.

“Alongside helping our clients gain much-needed access to liquidity and financing to stay afloat,” Laurens says, “implementing API-based services to deliver contact-free solutions has been part of our critical response to the pandemic, as we recognize that businesses have to reduce or eliminate physical interactions. Additionally, given the disruption Covid-19 has brought to global supply chains, we’ve accelerated the digitization of our trade and supply chain financing services.”

Adopting the latest digital solutions in trade finance has been essential to DBS’ clients as they scramble to find the most efficient ways to operate their businesses during the pandemic while searching for solutions that can carry their business platforms into the future. “As the post-pandemic world begins to emerge,” says Laurens, “we expect further acceleration of trade digitization, given the extensive benefits of paperless transacting.”

Methodology
The winners of the Global Finance Best Digital Bank Awards are chosen based on entries provided by financial institutions. Entrants are judged on breadth of product offerings; success in migrating customers to digital platforms; acquiring and retaining new customers; and the use of digital technologies to improve business processes, cut costs and deliver other benefits. Each entry is analyzed by a team of digital and banking experts at Infosys. All final selections are the responsibility of Global Finance.

At Gulf International Bank (GIB), which took six awards this year in the Corporate/Institutional categories, the Covid crisis has helped focus leadership’s priorities on digital transformation.

“[The crisis] has put greater emphasis on the financial viability of key digital initiatives,” as well as “the need to prioritize aspects of the strategy that deliver value in shorter time frames or address items with large opportunity costs and previously unforeseen regulatory changes,” says Dharmesh Mehta, product consultant, Global Transaction Banking at GIB.

Innovation Encouraged

Russian digital-only bank Tinkoff won numerous awards in Central and Eastern Europe, including Best Online Treasury Services on the Corporate/Institutional side, and several more in the Consumer categories. In May, Tinkoff launched a service called Surviving Quarantine, which offers discounts on digital services and subscriptions for film streaming, home fitness, audio books and online courses. Thanks in part to Covid-necessitated lockdowns, this lifestyle approach to financial services has been a success. Tinkoff reported 1 million new current accounts in the first three months of this year.

Standard Chartered, which won seven country awards as well as Africa-wide wins for Best Information Security and Fraud Management and Most Innovative Digital Bank, built on its successful digital retail bank launched in Côte d’Ivoire in 2018 to launch the same customer data integration platform in Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and Kenya in the first quarter of last year. The platform onboards clients in under 15 minutes and provides 70 of the most common service requests. Improvements to the platform include QR code and peer-to-peer payments, loan and overdraft facilities and instant fixed deposits.

At Citi, which won a slew of awards around the globe, Tapodyuti Bose, global head of digital channels and data for Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions, stresses the importance of working with clients to invest and innovate in areas that best serve their current and evolving needs.

“This has led us to roll out a number of innovative offerings across our digital channels and data solutions,” Bose says, including digital onboarding, an expanded catalogue of APIs to support real-time banking and new business models, greater insights from leveraging data, and embedded biometrics that provide greater security with less friction.

It’s the same for Bancolombia, which won two awards each in the Corporate and Consumer categories, in addition to the country award for Colombia. “Keeping pace with customer needs via digital innovation is the best way for banks to remaincompetitive,” says María Cristina Arrastía Uribe, business vice president at Bancolombia.

“Nowadays, corporate clients are increasingly agile, have greater access to information and face constant digital transformations that lead them to seek more-sophisticated financial partners with the best value offers,” Arrastía Uribe says. “This includes a much greater speed in responding to their needs. In this sense, banks must continually work to improve their offer with digital products and services that make them relevant to the daily happenings of corporate clients.”

In an increasingly demanding environment, with customers giving greater priority to security, analytics, real-time information and ease of use, banks must adapt to customer needs and develop products and services to differentiate themselves from the competition.

“One of them in Grupo Bancolombia’s digital strategy,” Arrastía Uribe says, “is the user experience, as the means and the way to get our clients to prefer and recommend us based on four attributes: user friendliness, enjoyable experience, reliability and timeliness.”

It’s also part of the banks’ responsibility, she says, to assist their clients in shifting business processes to digital, by offering a comprehensive platform of digital assets to allow clients to manage their processes more simply, efficiently and securely.

“For this reason, at Bancolombia we strive to enable our services in an integrated and consistent manner,” says Arrastía Uribe, “thereby facilitating self-management while constantly seeking to offer a multidimensional platform with modular and scalable solutions.” The goal is to support corporate clients in all their business processes, from beginning to end. “This is how we fulfill our goal of being accelerators in the transformation process of our clients,” she says.

In contrast to the 2008 global financial crisis, when banks were very much part of the problem, this time digital services are enabling banks to be the good guys, supporting both consumer and corporate clients in important ways. All Round 1 winners of Global Finance’s 2020 Best Digital Bank awards are using digital technologies to provide banking solutions that help their clients not only to weather the Covid crisis but to stand out from their competitors.

“As we are heading towards recovery, customers are already accustomed to virtual or digital services,” says GIB’s Mehta, encouraging people from more walks of life to expect digital excellence from their banks. 

METHODOLOGY The winners of the Global Finance Best Digital Bank Awards are chosen based on entries provided by financial institutions. Entrants are judged on breadth of product offerings; success in migrating customers to digital platforms; acquiring and retaining new customers; and the use of digital technologies to improve business processes, cut costs and deliver other benefits. Each entry is analyzed by a team of digital and banking experts at Infosys. All final selections are the responsibility of Global Finance.

WORLD’S BEST DIGITAL BANKS 2020 — ROUND 1BEST DIGITAL CONSUMER BANKS
Africa — Country Winners
BotswanaStandard Chartered
Côte d’IvoireStandard Chartered
GhanaStandard Chartered
KenyaStandard Chartered
MozambiqueMillennium bim
NigeriaStandard Chartered
TanzaniaStandard Chartered
TunisiaUnion Internationale de Banques
UgandaStandard Chartered
ZambiaStandard Chartered
Africa — Regional Sub-Category Winners
Best Integrated Consumer Bank SiteStandard Chartered
Best Online Product OfferingsStandard Chartered
Best Mobile Banking AppFirst Bank of Nigeria
Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementStandard Chartered
Most Innovative Digital BankStandard Chartered
Asia-Pacific — Country Winners
AustraliaCiti
BangladeshStandard Chartered
BruneiStandard Chartered
ChinaPing An Bank
Hong KongCiti
IndiaStandard Chartered
IndonesiaMaybank
JapanRakuten Bank
KazakhstanAltyn Bank
MalaysiaMaybank
MongoliaGolomt Bank
NepalStandard Chartered
PakistanStandard Chartered
PhilippinesCiti
SingaporeDBS
South KoreaCiti
Sri LankaNational Development Bank (NDB)
TaiwanTaishin Bank
ThailandTMRW by UOB
VietnamStandard Chartered
Asia-Pacific — Regional Sub-Category Winners
Best Integrated Consumer Bank SiteDBS
Best Online Product OfferingsTaishin Bank
Best Bill Payment and PresentmentStandard Chartered
Best Website DesignMaybank
Best Mobile Banking AppPing An Bank
Best Mobile Banking Adaptive SiteCiti
Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementCiti
Best in Social Media Marketing and ServicesCTBC
Best in LendingTaishin Bank
Most Innovative Digital BankDBS
Best Open Banking APIsCiti
Central and Eastern Europe — Country Winners
ArmeniaEvocabank
BelarusAlfa-Bank
BulgariaUnicredit Bulbank
GeorgiaBank of Georgia
HungaryOTP Bank
LatviaBaltic International Bank
PolandBank Millennium
RomaniaGaranti BBVA
RussiaTinkoff Bank
SlovakiaTatra banka
UkrainePrivatBank
Central and Eastern Europe — Regional Sub-Category Winners
Best Integrated Consumer Bank SiteBank Millennium
Best Online Product OfferingsBank of Georgia
Best Bill Payment and PresentmentSberbank
Best Website DesignTinkoff Bank
Best Mobile Banking AppTinkoff Bank
Best Mobile Banking Adaptive SiteTatra banka
Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementSberbank
Best in Social Media Marketing and ServicesTBC Bank
Best in LendingBank of Georgia
Most Innovative Digital BankSberbank
Best Open Banking APIsTinkoff Bank
Latin America — Country Winners
ArgentinaBanco Santander Rio
BoliviaBCP
BrazilNext — Bradesco Bank
ChileBCI Chile
ColombiaBancocolombia
EcuadorProdubanco
El SalvadorBanco Cuscatlán
MexicoCitibanamex
ParaguayItaú Unibanco
Puerto RicoBanco Popular de Puerto Rico
Latin America — Regional Sub-Category Winners
Best Integrated Consumer Bank SiteBancolombia
Best Online Product OfferingsCitibanamex
Best Bill Payment and PresentmentBanco Santander Rio
Best Website DesignCitibanamex
Best Mobile Banking AppBancolombia
Best Mobile Banking Adaptive SiteBanco Cuscatlán
Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementBanco Popular de Puerto Rico
Best in Social Media Marketing and ServicesBCI Chile
Best in LendingBanco de Bogotá
Most Innovative Digital BankNext – Bradesco Bank
Best Open Banking APIsCitibanamex
Middle East — Country Winners (With Sub-categories By Country)
BahrainBest Consumer BankCiti
 Best Mobile Banking AppCiti
 Best Mobile Adaptive Banking SiteCiti
 Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementCiti
EgyptBest Consumer Digital BankCIB
 Best Integrated Consumer Banking SiteCIB
 Best Online Product OfferingsCIB
 Best Bill Payment and PresentmentAbu Dhabi Islamic Bank
 Best Website DesignCIB
 Best Mobile Banking AppCIB
 Best Mobile Banking Adaptive SiteCredit Agricole
 Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementCIB
 Best in Social Media Marketing and ServicesAbu Dhabi Islamic Bank
 Most Innovative Digital Bank CIB
 Best Open Banking APIsCIB
IsraelBest Consumer Digital BankIsrael Discount Bank
 Best Mobile Banking AppIsrael Discount Bank
JordanBest Consumer Digital BankBank al Etihad
 Best Bill Payment and PresentmentArab Bank
 Best Website DesignArab Bank
 Best Mobile Banking AppArab Bank
 Best in Social Media Marketing & ServicesArab Bank
 Most Innovative Digital BankBank al Etihad
KuwaitBest Consumer Digital BankNational Bank of Kuwait
LebanonBest Consumer Digital BankBlom Bank
 Best Mobile Banking AppBlom Bank
 Best Mobile Adaptive Banking SiteBlom Bank
 Most Innovative Digital BankBlom Bank
OmanBest Consumer Digital BankBank Muscat
PalestineBest Consumer Digital BankArab Bank
QatarBest Overall Corporate/Institutional Digital BankCommercial Bank of Qatar
 Best Online Cash ManagementCommercial Bank of Qatar
 Best Trade Finance ServicesQatar Islamic Bank
 Best in Mobile BankingQatar Islamic Bank
 Best Mobile Banking AppCommercial Bank of Qatar
Saudi ArabiaBest Consumer Digital BankSABB
 Best Mobile Banking AppSABB
 Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementSAMBA
UAEBest Consumer Digital BankMashreq Bank
 Best Integrated Consumer Banking SiteStandard Chartered
 Best Online Product OfferingsMashreq Bank
 Best Bill Payment and PresentmentFirst Abu Dhabi Bank
 Best Mobile Banking AppCommercial Bank of Dubai
 Best Mobile Banking Adaptive SiteStandard Chartered
 Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementCiti
 Best in Lending Commercial Bank of Dubai
 Most Innovative Digital BankMashreq Bank
 Best Open Banking APIsCiti
North America — Country Winners 
CanadaCIBC
United StatesBank of America
North America — Regional Sub-Category Winners
Best Integrated Consumer Bank CIBC
Best Online Product OfferingsTD Bank
Best Bill Payment and PresentmentTD Bank
Best Website DesignCIBC
Best Mobile Banking AppCIBC
Best Mobile Banking Adaptive SiteTD Bank
Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementTD Bank
Most Innovative Digital BankTD Bank
Western Europe — Country Winners
CyprusBank of Cyprus
GermanyING
GreeceEurobank
PortugalMillennium bcp
SpainCaixabank
TurkeyYapi Credit Bank
UKCiti
Western Europe — Regional Sub-Category Winners
Best Integrated Consumer Bank SiteTEB Bank
Best Online Product OfferingsEurobank
Best Bill Payment and PresentmentYapi Kredi Bank
Best Website DesignING
Best Mobile Banking AppCaixaBank
Best Mobile Banking Adaptive SiteYapi Kredi Bank
Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementCiti
Best in LendingIsbank
Most Innovative Digital BankEurobank
Best Open Banking APIsIsbank
BEST DIGITAL CORPORATE BANKS
Africa — Country Winners
AlgeriaCiti
CameroonCiti
Congo (DRC)Citi
Côte d’IvoireCiti
DjiboutiCAC International Bank
GabonCiti
KenyaCiti
MoroccoCiti
NigeriaCiti
SenegalCiti
South AfricaCiti
TanzaniaCiti
TogoEcobank
TunisiaCiti
UgandaCiti
ZambiaCiti
Africa — Regional Sub-Category Winners
Best Online Cash Management ServicesCiti
Best Trade Finance ServicesAbsa
Best Online PortalAbsa
Best Integrated Corporate Banking SiteEcobank
Best Mobile Adaptive SiteCiti
Best in Mobile BankingCiti
Best Mobile Banking AppCiti
Most Innovative Digital BankCiti
Best Open Banking APIsCiti
Asia-Pacific — Country Winners
AustraliaCiti
BangladeshCiti
ChinaCiti
Hong KongCiti
IndiaCiti
IndonesiaCiti
JapanCiti
MalaysiaCiti
New ZealandCiti
PakistanCiti
PhilippinesCiti
SingaporeDBS
South KoreaCiti
Sri LankaCiti
TaiwanCiti
ThailandCiti
VietnamCiti
Asia-Pacific — Regional Sub-Category Winners
Best Online Cash Management ServicesCiti
Best Trade Finance ServicesDBS
Best Online Treasury ServicesCiti
Best Online PortalDBS
Best Integrated Corporate Banking SiteCTBC
Best Mobile Adaptive SiteCiti
Best Mobile Banking AppCiti
Most Innovative Digital BankDBS
Best Open Banking APIsCiti
Best Open Banking APIsCiti
Central and Eastern Europe — Country Winners
BelarusAlfa-bank
BulgariaCiti
Czech RepublicCiti
GeorgiaTBC Bank
HungaryCiti
KazakhstanCiti
PolandmBank
RomaniaCiti
RussiaSberbank
SlovakiaCiti
UkraineCiti
Central and Eastern Europe — Regional Sub-Category Winners
Best Online Investment Management ServicesBank of Georgia
Best Online Cash Management ServicesSberbank
Best Trade Finance ServicesBank of Georgia
Best Online Treasury ServicesTinkoff Bank
Best Online PortalSberbank
Best Integrated Corporate Banking SiteSberbank
Best Information Security and Fraud Management Sberbank
Best Mobile Adaptive SiteAlfa-Bank
Best Mobile Banking AppING Bank Slaski
Most in Social Media Marketing and ServicesTBC Bank
Most Innovative Digital BankTBC Bank
Best Open Banking APIsCiti
Latin America — Country Winners
ArgentinaCiti
BrazilCiti
ColombiaBancolombia
EcuadorCiti
El SalvadorCiti
GuatemalaCiti
HondurasCiti
JamaicaCiti
MexicoCiti
PanamaCiti
ParaguayCiti
PeruCiti
Puerto RicoCiti
UruguayCiti
Latin America — Regional Sub-Category Winners
Best Online Investment Management ServicesCiti
Best Online Cash Management ServicesCiti
Best Trade Finance ServicesCiti
Best Online Treasury ServicesCiti
Best Online PortalCiti
Best Integrated Corporate Banking SiteBancolombia
Best Information Security and Fraud Services ManagementBancolombia
Best Mobile Adaptive SiteCiti
Best Mobile Banking AppCiti
Best in Social Media Marketing and ServicesCiti
Most Innovative Digital BankCiti
Best Open Banking APIsCiti
Middle East — Country Winners (With Sub-categories By Country)
BahrainBest Corporate/Institutional Digital BankCiti
 Best Online Cash Management ServicesCiti
 Best Trade Finance ServicesGulf International Bank
 Most Innovative Digital BankCiti
 Best Open Banking APIsGulf International Bank
EgyptBest Corporate/Institutional Digital BankCiti
 Best Online Investment Management ServicesCIB
 Best Online Cash Management ServicesCiti
 Best Trade Finance ServicesCredit Agricole
 Best Online Treasury ServicesCIB
 Best Online PortalCIB
 Most Integrated Corporate Banking SiteCIB
 Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementCIB
 Best Mobile Banking Adaptive SiteCIB
 Most Innovative Digital BankCIB
 Best Open Banking APIsCIB
IsraelBest Corporate/Institutional Digital BankIsrael Discount Bank
JordanBest Corporate/Institutional BankCiti
 Best Online Cash Management ServicesCiti
 Best Trade Finance ServicesArab Bank
 Best Mobile Banking AppArab Bank
 Most Innovative Digital BankCiti
 Best Open Banking APIsCiti
KuwaitBest Corporate/Institutional BankCiti
 Best Online Cash Management ServicesAhli United Bank
 Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementAhli United Bank
 Most Innovative Digital BankCiti
 Best Open Banking APIsCiti
LebanonBest Consumer Digital BankCiti
 Best Online Cash Management ServicesCiti
 Best Mobile Banking AppCiti
 Most Innovative Digital BankCiti
QatarBest Corporate/Institutional BankCiti
 Best Online Cash Management Services Commercial Bank of Qatar
 Best Trade Finance ServicesCommercial Bank of Qatar
 Best Mobile Banking Adaptive SiteCiti
 Most Mobile Banking AppCommercial Bank of Qatar
 Best in Social Media Marketing and ServicesCommercial Bank of Qatar
 Most Innovative Digital BankCiti
 Best Open Banking APIsCiti
Saudi ArabiaBest Corporate/Institutional Digital BankGulf International Bank
 Best Online Cash Management ServicesGulf International Bank
 Best Trade Finance ServicesGulf International Bank
 Best Online Treasury ServicesSAMBA
 Best Online PortalSAMBA
 Best Integrated Corporate Banking SiteSAMBA
 Best Open Banking APIsGulf International Bank
UAEBest Corporate/Institutional BankMashreq Bank
 Best Online Cash Management Mashreq Bank
 Best Trade Finance ServicesMashreq Bank
 Best Online PortalMashreq Bank
 Best Mobile Banking Adaptive SiteCiti
 Best Mobile Banking AppCiti
 Most Innovative Digital BankCiti
 Best Open Banking APIsCiti
North America — Country Winners 
CanadaCiti
United StatesCiti
North America — Regional Sub-Category Winners
Best Online Investment Management ServicesWells Fargo
Best Online Cash Management ServicesCiti
Best Trade Finance ServicesWells Fargo
Best Online Treasury ServicesCiti
Best Online PortalWells Fargo
Best Integrated Corporate Banking SiteWells Fargo
Most Information Security and Fraud ManagementWells Fargo
Best Mobile Adaptive SiteBBVA
Best Mobile Banking AppBBVA
Best in Social Media Marketing and ServicesWells Fargo
Most Innovative Digital BankCiti
Best Open Banking APIsWells Fargo
Western Europe — Country Winners
AustriaCiti
BelgiumCiti
CyprusBank of Cyprus
DenmarkCiti
FinlandCiti
FranceCiti
GermanyCiti
GreeceCiti
IrelandCiti
ItalyCiti
LuxembourgCiti
NetherlandsCiti
NorwayCiti
PortugalCiti
SpainBBVA
SwedenCiti
SwitzerlandCiti
TurkeyCiti
United KingdomCiti
Western Europe — Regional Sub-Category Winners
Best Online Cash Management ServicesCiti
Best Trade Finance ServicesIntesa Sanpaolo
Best Online Treasury ServicesYapi Kredi Bank
Best Integrated Corporate Banking SiteNovo Banco
Best Information Security and Fraud ManagementMillennium bcp
Best Mobile Adaptive SiteCiti
Best Mobile Banking AppCiti
Most Innovative Digital BankBBVA
Best Open Banking APIsCiti
World’s Best Digital Islamic Banks
Asia-Pacific — Country WinnersBangladeshStandard Chartered
 MalaysiaStandard Chartered
 PakistanStandard Chartered
Middle East — Country WinnersKuwaitBoubyan Bank
 UAEAbu Dhabi Islamic Bank
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