Against a backdrop of old-school Miami cool, the world's biggest banks convened at Sibos to bask in the spotlight.
As financial leaders gathered at the Sibos conference on Tuesday for Global Finance’s ceremony for the 2026 Treasury and Cash Management and Sub-Custodian Awards ceremony, the elegant setting offered a clear nod to old Miami.
The Fontainebleau, where Global Finance presented the awards, is indelibly associated with Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, whose photos adorn the hotel’s walls, a nod to a bygone era when Miami Beach was a playground for entertainers, celebrities, and those who knew how to put on a show.
The show Global Finance put on was different, but no less memorable for the award winners who attended.
More than 150 banking executives from around the world gathered to recognize something considerably less glamorous yet far more essential to the global economy: the financial infrastructure that enables companies to move money, manage liquidity, make payments, and navigate foreign exchange.
Global Finance’s awards ceremony coincided with Swift’s annual Sibos event, which brought more than 100 financial institutions and 10,000 attendees from around the world to the nearby Miami Beach Convention Center.
There was plenty to celebrate at The Fontainebleau on Tuesday morning.
Winners From Around the World
DBS Bank collected 12 awards—more than any other bank represented at the ceremony—including three country honors and four Asia-Pacific awards covering liquidity management, cross-border payments, payments and financial institutions, and transaction banking.
The Singapore bank’s haul punctuated a ceremony that recognized more than 60 banks and handed out 177 awards across countries and regions.
Other big winners included Standard Bank, which collected 11 awards; BBVA, which took home nine; and Citi and its business units, which also collected nine. Among Citi’s awards were three marquee honors: Best Treasury FX Services, Best Bank for Long-Term Liquidity Management, and Best Bank for Payments.
(Read more of Global Finance’s coverage of Sibos 2026.)
BNY took home eight awards to New York, including the title of World’s Best Bank for Cash Management.
ING, with seven awards, was recognized across multiple markets, including its home country, the Netherlands, reflecting the increasingly regional and global nature of transaction banking.
“We’ve worked very hard to complete our offerings across Europe, specifically in Central and Eastern Europe, and we’re thrilled to accept these awards,” Tibor Bartels, head of transaction services at ING Americas, told Global Finance after the ceremony.
The formula, he said, is straightforward: keep investing, keep talking to clients, and keep making sure the bank’s offerings reflect their needs.
That theme surfaced repeatedly during the ceremony.
Dennis Gada, executive vice president and global head of banking and financial services at Infosys, which partnered with Global Finance to tabulate the results for the Treasury and Cash Management Awards, put it more directly in his opening remarks.
“It’s not about who has the biggest balance sheet; it’s about who’s actually building the infrastructure that makes modern treasury possible,” Gada told the audience. “The institutions we are recognizing today are the ones that are getting it right.”
Increasingly, transaction banking has become less about the products customers see and more about the infrastructure operating behind the scenes.
Six banks received four each; three received three; 12 received two; and 48 received one.
But one award stood alone.
Bank of America
Of the 177 awards presented, Bank of America received the crowning honor: Global Finance’s World’s Best Bank for Transaction Banking.
Marcelo Moussalli, executive head of product for Latin America, accepted the award. In a post-ceremony video interview, he attributed the bank’s success to three factors: listening to clients, making effective use of its global platform, and combining that scale with local expertise.
“Putting all of that together makes this a strength of our franchise, allowing us to implement new solutions for liquidity and payments and to innovate across all areas of the bank,” he said.
The ceremony ended much as it had begun—with a reminder that banking, like Miami itself, is an old-world institution adapting to the modern world.
Meanwhile, outside the Fontainebleau, the sky had opened up.
The rain that had begun during the ceremony intensified into howling gales and driving rain as executives filed out of the hotel, many carrying the glass plaques they had come to collect from cities around the globe: New York, Singapore, Johannesburg, Madrid, and dozens of other financial centers.
Inside, the awards celebrated the institutions that make global commerce possible.
Outside, Miami’s weather offered an apt metaphor for the environment in which those institutions operate: unpredictable, volatile, and occasionally coming down all at once.
The Rat Pack may have left the building decades ago, but for one morning in Miami Beach, the Fontainebleau was still putting on a show, only this time the stars were the banks behind the world’s financial well-being.
Paul Curcio is the editor of Global Finance Magazine. Contact him at paul.curcio@gfmag.com.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct award counts, name spellings, and titles.
