Emerging markets ''have taken advantage of new opportunities''

The last 12 months for the global financial services sector has been far from straightforward, but according to industry magazine World Finance, some banks are bucking the gloomy trend.

Strong commodity trading prices and shares are among the positive opportunities that have been apparent in the last year, although lenders have still had to "remain on their toes", the publication suggests.

It notes that while some groups have proven more successful at this than others, banks in emerging economies have shown particular aptitude for taking advantage of opportunities and have recorded "impressive" results to this end.

This is especially true "where adaptations by governments to the realities of the global economy have resulted in renewed investment opportunities for institutions", it asserts.

All of these points were taken into consideration as the magazine chose the winners of its Banking Awards 2011 - with names published in the May-June issue of the publication.

In the UK, Barclays Capital took the title for Best Investment Bank, while those with finance jobs in London working for Santander learnt their employer was named the top retail banking group.