The Excellent Banks

This was the question we posed in late 2003 to about 15 leading banking consultants, buy-and sell-side analysts, and specialists in rating agencies. We call these individuals ‘bankologists’; they are people who have spent most or all of a long career studying banks across the sector and making their living by providing independent, thoughtful insights to their clients. We made no effort to define further what we meant by ‘best managed’, although the phrases ‘best practice’, ‘best of breed’ and ‘best positioned’ often came up in the ensuing discussion. In effect, we found that most of the 10 who ultimately accepted the challenge had their own selection process: banks they knew well and admired, others which they knew less well but which had distinguished themselves against their peers over a period of decades, and some which represented a reasonable selection of geographies and business models. Some had difficulty identifying ten banks, while others went on at some length!