Celebrating the financiers creating a prosperous future for the Middle East

The annual Banker Middle East Industry Awards is the Middle East’s foremost gathering of key players within the banking and financial services industry

(Dubai –  June, 2014) – Some 500 top bankers and financiers from around the region came together at the Gala Dinner held at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai to celebrate their achievements. The top awards went to institutions in Saudi Arabia and the UAE; the Best Bank in the Middle East is Saudi institution National Commercial Bank while the Fastest Growing Bank in the Middle East is the UAE’s Sharjah-based United Arab Bank.

Now in its 15th year, the Awards are sponsored by Dubai International Financial Centre, INCEIF – the global university of Islamic finance and compareit4me.com – the UAE’s leading financial comparison website. Guests heard a keynote address from global strategist and author of How to Run the World, Parag Khanna.

As patron and main sponsor of the Awards, HE Essa Kazim, Governor of Dubai International Financial Centre noted, “The Banker Middle East Industry Awards are designed to recognise top performers and raise standards. As the DIFC itself celebrates 10 years of growth, we applaud the growth and success of the region’s financial institutions.”

More than a third of the peer-voted awards went to institutions active in the UAE (13 out of 32 Awards in this section). CPI Financial’s own commitment to raising standards in the Awards process saw a total of 18 awards going to banking institutions in nine countries  as a result of straightforward analysis of financial performance.

Compiled as the CPI Financial 100, this research, now in its fifth year, is calculated using banks’ own published financial metrics. By end-2013, the top 100 banks in the Middle East controlled assets worth $1.8 trillion, up from $1.66 trillion the previous year and together made aggregate net profits of $28.48 billion in 2013, rising 5.7 per cent on the previous year.

“Analysis of financial metrics based on institutions’ own published results offers clear and unarguable proof of growth and overall performance, allowing us to identify the region’s banking leaders,” added Adam Broom.

Multiple winners on the night include Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, First Gulf Bank, HSBC Middle East, National Commercial Bank and United Arab Bank all with two Awards each. Qatar’s Barwa Bank picked up two Awards and saw its First Finance Company unit also receive an Award.

Other notable winners include Boubyan Bank, winning the Fastest Growing Bank in Kuwait Award for an impressive fourth year in a row. Also making it four out of four was Gulf Capital as Best Private Equity Firm, following the IPO it conducted earlier this year on the London Stock Exchange of Gulf Marine Services.

“The Banker Middle East Industry Awards set a clear and high performance benchmark for the MENA financial sector. We are very proud to be able to honour all that is best in the region’s banking and finance sector – our winners are key players in building a prosperous future for all the MENA economies,” said Robin Amlôt, Managing Editor of Banker Middle East.
 

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(via Dubai PR Network)