THE HSBC group has scooped two industry awards after Hongkong Bank was voted the territory's best bank, and Wardley the best securities firm.
The plaudits came from Euromoney magazine, which was making its assessment of the best operators in Asia's financial markets.
Of Hongkong Bank, the magazine said: ''Still without serious competition in the territory, the bank has safely navigated its loss of quasi-central-banking status to post record profits.'' Of Wardley, it said: ''It has stood its ground in the face of the invasion of Wall Street's investment banking giants.'' Best domestic bank operating in China went to the Bank of China, which was described as the ''sole international class bank in China''.
Meanwhile, in the category of top foreign bank doing business on the mainland, Credit Lyonnais won a now-familiar award for the quality of its securities research.
''Consistently ranked first in fund manager surveys of China analysis, Credit Lyonnais Securities has also done innovative deals in the mainland,'' said the magazine.