BankMuscat, the nation’s leading bank, has been named as the ‘Best Foreign Exchange Bank and Provider’ in Oman for 2006 by the New York based financial magazine, Global Finance. This is the third year running that BankMuscat has been bestowed this honor.
Speaking on the occasion, AbdulRazak Ali Issa chief executive of BankMuscat (SAOG) said,
“Providing world-class products and services to our clients and customers is a commitment that we, at BankMuscat, take very seriously. Winning this award, for the third consecutive year, is proof of the Bank’s commitment and dedication to providing quality forex services and innovative forex derivative products to our body of discerning Treasury clients. We would also like to thank our customers who have patronized our Treasury services and would like to assure them of enhanced services in the future.”
Global Finance editors, with input from industry analysts, corporate executives and technology experts, selected the winners based on the following criteria: transaction volume, market share, scope of global coverage, customer service, competitive pricing and innovative technologies.
Commenting on the awards, Joseph D. Giarraputo, publisher and president of Global Finance said,
“The global foreign exchange market, the world’s largest, continues to evolve in response to economic, political and technological forces, as well as to changes within the banking industry itself. We have identified the banks that large global companies can rely on for their foreign exchange needs.”
According to Global Finance magazine, the average daily turnover has reached nearly US$ 2 trillion in the global foreign exchange market.
Other country winners that have been identified in the GCC region include: Arab Banking Corporation (Kingdom of Bahrain), Qatar National Bank (Qatar), National Bank of Kuwait (Kuwait), Arab National Bank (Saudi Arabia) and National Bank of Dubai (UAE).
The BankMuscat Treasury department offers its clientele a sophisticated range of money market products including currency options and derivatives, which are tailored to meet specific customer requirements. The treasury department is equipped with a state-of-art dealing room and is manned by a team of leading professionals from across the region and the Indian sub-continent. The department releases regular market updates on the global currency markets, which are prepared after much in-depth research of fundamental and technical strengths and trend analysis of the key currencies in question.
About BankMuscat
With assets worth over US $ 4.8 billion, BankMuscat (SAOG) is the largest bank in Oman today with a strong presence in Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, Investment Banking, Treasury, Private Banking and Asset Management. The Bank has a network of 90 branches in Oman and a representative office in Dubai (UAE). BankMuscat also has a strategic stake in Centurion Bank, a private sector bank in India and has recently set up BankMuscat International (BMI) an independent Banking entity that will be focused on becoming a truly GCC regional bank.
The international financial and banking community has lauded BankMuscat’s performance and pioneering efforts at setting new standards of excellence in the Banking industry in Oman and in the countries in which it operates across the region for several years now. BankMuscat holds the rare distinction of being voted the ‘Best Bank in Oman’ three times in a row by The Banker, FT London, five times by Euromoney and Global Finance Inc. The Bank was awarded the People Development Award at Oman Awards for Excellence, in 2003 and 2004. Earlier this year, the Bank also won the prestigious Gulf Excellence Award for Oman.
