Best Banks 2000: Best banks by region

Global Finance, Oct 2000

UNITED STATES WELLS FARGO CEO: Richard M. Kovacevich ells Fargo's trademark, the stagecoach, is a symbol of the bank's role in "coming through" for its customers since 1852.The bank may not be the biggest US bank in terms of assets, but it is the best because of its pioneering spirit and vision. Today's Wells Fargo is the product of more than 1,500 mergers that have produced the country's most extensive banking franchise. Its corporate headquarters is in San Francisco, but every local Wells Fargo "store" offers a full range of products. A network of 6,000 stores is complemented by the world's largest Internet bank, giving Wells Fargo a well-deserved reputation for efficiency. Wells Fargo and Citigroup are teaming up with three technology firms to create a company that will facilitate payments at hundreds of Internet business-to-business marketplaces. From electronic checks to Web-enabled ATMs, Wells Fargo is on the right trail.

CANADA BANK OF MONTREAL CEO: Anthony Comper ank of Montreal, Canada's oldest bank, was the first bank in North

America to deliver wireless financial services. Its Canadian wireless service, known as Veev, was launched in May 1999, and today offers bill pay ment and brokerage options, as well as wireless shopping. Its Harris Bank subsidiary in Chicago was the first US bank to launch a complete wireless banking and investment service over the Sprint PCS Wireless Web. BMO Nesbitt Burns, the investment banking division of Bank of Montreal, in July launched the $450 million Halyard Capital Fund, signaling a major expansion of merchant banking activities in the US media, telecom, and Internet sectors. Bank of Montreal and Harris Bank are further expanding their wealth management operations in the United States by acquiring Seattle-based direct brokerage firm Freeman Welwood.With more than 1,000 branches, Bank of Montreal is growing through acquisitions and by adding new products. It has a 16% interest in Mexico's Grupo Financiero Bancomer, extending its reach throughout the NAFTA region.

NORTH AMERICA Wells Fargo and Bank of Montreal have emerged as the best banks in North America.These two

bank leaders are building out their franchises with both bricks and clicks.Wells Fargo, which was named by Global Finance in August as a best internet bank in North America, is building a formidable US franchise-now the largest in the United States-on attention to customer needs. Similarly, Bank of Montreal is adding to its Canadian network with both branches and trend-setting wireless financial applications. The best banks in Europe represent the bulge bracket of this year's winners, including institutions from 33 nations. Continuing consolidation in the sector means that players such as Deutsche Bank and HSBC will continue to grow and dominate Euroland and other foreign markets-including the United States.The leader among these banks in the Central and Eastern Europe region is Bank Austria Creditanstalt, with substantial investments in countries where many Western banks fear to tread.

AUSTRIA

BANK AUSTRIA Chairman: Gerhard Randa ith total assets at around E136 billion at the end of 1999, Bank Austria is comfortably the country's largest and most international banking institution.As of early September, the bank's planned merger with Germany's HypoVereinsbank stood to make the bank even bigger. But the Austrian Takeover Commission threatened to treat the move as a takeover, not a merger, something that HypoVereinsbank chairman Albrecht Schmidt said would sink the deal. If it goes ahead, it will create the largest foreign bank in Eastern Europe, and Europe's third-largest bank, worth about E660 billion and controlling 25% of the Austrian market. Combined, the bank would have a balance sheet of E670 billion, more than eight million customers, 2,000 branches, and a staff of 65,OOO.With a significant presence also in Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, the resulting bank would use its strength to expand further into the highgrowth markets of Central and Eastern Europe. Earlier this year, Bank Austria Creditanstalt International, the bank's foreign operations division, finalized its majority takeover of Powszechny Bank Kredytowy (PBK), Poland's fourth-largest financial institution. It also acquired a 25% stake in US asset management company Raimus Capital.The bank has formed an Internet alliance with the Austrian subsidiary of group debis Systemhaus (Germany). Bank Austria is expecting to deal with a third of its customers via the Internet by 2005. Less than 10% of the bank's customers currently use online banking, but the number of online customers is expected to rise from 120,000 currently to about 500,000 by 2005.The bank's current strategy is to invest at least E220 million in the Internet sector by 2002.

BELGIUM

KBC Executive Committee President: Remi Vermeiren fter several key acquisitions, KBC has become the leading domestic banking group in Belgium. KBC recently agreed to buy a 29.6% stake in the Hungarian Kereskedelmi es Hitelbank (K&ITj, increasing its total holding to 62.28%. Since June the banking group has consolidated all its asset management activities under one roof: KBC Asset Management. It is also forming a joint venture with speech and language technologies specialist Lernout & Hauspie to develop, launch, and distribute a voice-enabled portable Internet appliance accompanied by Internet services.The bank is investing up to $100 million in the venture. KBC aims to be one of the first banks in Belgium to offer online services to customers via mobile phones. It plans to add transactional banking services to its wireless Internet offering in a second phase. By 2002 KBC expects to have between 20% and 25% of its customers using its Internet services.