CNBC's Emily Chan was the MC and guided the audience through the evening, which apart from the handing out of more than 50 awards also included a keynote speech from Deepak Parekh, the chairman of India's first housing finance company, HDFC, a charity auction and the traditional trivia quiz û also known as the ôwhoÆs the niftiest with their Blackberryö test.
The award for Best Bank was picked up by Robert Morse, CitiÆs CEO for Asia Pacific, while Robert Rankin, head of Asia investment banking at UBS, accepted the award for Best Investment Bank.
Deepak Parekh was also announced on the night as the winner of our Lifetime Achievement Award for his work to enable more people in India to own their own homes. During his 30 years with HDFC he has literally helped improve millions of peoplesÆ lives. In his after-dinner speech, Parekh focused on a few other sectors that are in the need of substantial investments to sustain the country's rapid growth - agriculture, infrastructure, healthcare and education.
Our Capital Markets Person of the Year Award, which was also unveiled on the night, went to Cheah Cheng Hye, the co-founder, chairman and chief investment officer of Hong Kong-based fund management firm Value Partners. He received the award for taking his firm to a new level in 2007, making it the first hedge-fund style asset manager to go public in Asia ex-Japan, and for setting a positive example through its investments at a time when Asia needs more successful home-grown fund management firms that can mobilise the regionÆs savings.
The money raised from the auction of FinanceAsiaÆs annual charity tombstone bond will go to the Mahindra World College of India û a charity that was picked by Deepak Parekh. UBS won the auction with a bid of $55,000, earning the right to become the bondÆs global coordinator.
As usual, Goldman Sachs was on the ball when it came to navigating the trivia quiz, but this time the firm shared the top spot with Morgan Stanley after the first 20 questions. For the tiebreaker the two banks had five seconds to write down the closing level of the Hang Seng Index on that day and once their scribbles had been deciphered it was Morgan Stanley that was the closest and that walked away with the case of champagne û ending GoldmanÆs unbroken winning streak at our main awards dinners.
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