The International Bank of Qatar's (IBQ) strong affiliation with the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) has been linked to yet another success. NBK has just been awarded "Best Bank of the Middle East" by pre-eminent international finance magazine Euromoney at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence Middle East Dinner. Held last night, 7th June, in association with the Qatar Financial Centre, at the Four Seasons Hotel Doha, this is the second time in the past five years that NBK has won the regional award and the 13th consecutive year that it has won for “Best Bank in Kuwait”.
IBQ which is managed by NBK who are also 20% shareholders, credits its impressive tremendous performance within Qatar and the region to this affiliation and the shared values of excellence in customer service and banking. "We're extremely honoured to be associated with such a successful international bank. NBK has helped enable IBQ to become a dynamic new force in Qatar contributing to the nation's development and playing a role in making it a regional financial center," commented Michael H. Williams, General Manager of IBQ. Williams along with a number of IBQ's clients and the management team attended the ceremony offering their support and congratulations to NBK team for their tremendous success.
Euromoney Magazine CEO, Simon Brady, said that the National Bank of Kuwait has for many years been the dominant bank in Kuwait and it is now reaping the rewards of a strategy that has transformed it from a strong national bank into a genuinely international financial institution. “No bank in the region is held in as great respect by its competitors for the quality and range of its financial services and its ability to balance the aggressive search for new markets and products with the need for prudence in an often financially volatile region. A first class and extremely experienced management team have made the bank the highest rated and one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East”, he added.
Euromoney believes that the emerging trend in financial services in the region is one of further integration and those banks that execute this strategy will be the dominant players. This consideration weighed heavily on the deliberations of the awards panel. Euromoney noted that “evidence of NBK’s regional ambitions comes with the purchase of a 20% stake in the International Bank of Qatar, which includes full management control” and the fact that “NBK now has a presence in 7 countries in the Middle East and 14 in total.”
Commenting on this achievement, CEO of NBK, Ibrahim Dabdoub, said that “The Bank takes pride in this title which international banks used to earn for the last 5 years. NBK is off to a strong start of yet another exceptional year. During 2005 and the first quarter of 2006 our financial results were outstanding, with record profits, exceptionally strong growth and superior returns to shareholders.” The quality and diversification of our earnings, and superior credit ratings, the highest among all emerging market banks, are proof of our success in managing risk and cost."
Dabdoub also stressed on the success of NBK's ambitious regional strategy. "We are very pleased with the positive results from the new markets we entered recently, whether Qatar, Jordan, Iraq or Shanghai, alongside our established network in major financial centers. While our international network has long played an important role in supporting NBK's businesses from treasury, trade finance and corporate banking to private banking and wealth management, our expanding regional presence allows us to benefit from emerging growth opportunities in highly promising markets."
NBK has consistently earned the highest credit ratings in the Middle East by international agencies including Moody's, Standard & Poor's and FitchRatings. NBK's total assets reached USD 24.4 billion (KD 7.1 billion) at the end of March 2006, while its shareholders' equity stood at USD 2.4 billion (KD 706 million).
Regarded as the benchmark awards for financial services globally, the Euromoney Awards for Excellence are now in their 14th consecutive year. This year’s awards process, which began in April, attracted over 100 submissions from the region’s banks and brokerage houses competing for the 26 awards that Euromoney presented. Euromoney’s dedicated research team and awards panel then rated all the submissions on both quantitative and qualitative factors such as KPI’s, financial ratios and innovation over the 12 month period to decide the award winners.
“The growth in innovation and the sophistication of the Middle East is one of the most exciting growth areas of the international capital markets. Euromoney is delighted to be hosting its second annual event in Qatar, one of the world’s fastest growing economies and rapidly becoming one of the regions financial hubs." said Euromoney Magazine CEO Simon Brady.
Other winners that were announced included HSBC scooping the “Best Investment Bank in the Middle East “, SAMBA for “Best Bank in Saudi Arabia” and Qatar Commercial Bank for “Best Bank in Qatar”
The final accolade of the evening was the QFC Euromoney Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Financial Services in the Middle East which was presented to Raymond Audi, Chairman of the Lebanon based Bank Audi.
About NBK:
NBK was founded in 1952 as the first indigenous bank and the first joint stock company in Kuwait and the Gulf Region. It is by far the largest financial institution in Kuwait with effective market dominance in the commercial banking market. NBK stands out in Kuwait and among Arab banks in terms of its local and international network, which includes branches, subsidiaries and representative offices in New York, London, Paris, Geneva, Lebanon, Amman, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Singapore, Vietnam and Shanghai, with other ambitious plans for regional and global expansion. NBK reported profits of USD 704 million during 2005, among the highest in the Arab world.
About Euromoney:
Euromoney Magazine is the flagship title of London based financial communications company Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. Founded in 1969 by Sir Patrick Sergeant, Euromoney Magazine is the voice of the international capital markets and for 36 years has offered unparalleled coverage of the global bond, equity and foreign exchange markets Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC is a constituent of the FTSE-250 index and is listed on the London and Luxembourg Stock Exchanges.
About IBQ:
International Bank of Qatar (IBQ)
IBQ, previously known as the Grindlays Qatar Bank is one of the oldest Bank's in Qatar and celebrates 50 years of banking in 2006. Previously, it was a member of the ANZ Grindlays banking group. The Standard Chartered group acquired the bank in 2000 and in 2003 sold its % stake to local shareholders, which made the bank fully locally owned and independently managed.
In 2004, National Bank of Kuwait acquired 20% stake in the Grindlays Qatar Bank, and assumed management responsibility. At the same time the name was changed to the International Bank of Qatar.
