Abu Dhabi, 18 December 2011: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), a top-tier Islamic financial services institution, announced today that it had won the Best Islamic Bank and its CEO Tirad Mahmoud had won the Islamic Banker of the Year, both for the second consecutive year at the prestigious Islamic Business & Finance Awards held in Dubai earlier. This is the first time in IB&F awards’ history that an organization won the same awards for two years running. In addition to these consecutive awards, ADIB was also named Best Wholesale Bank in the GCC.
The Islamic Business & Finance Awards, running for its sixth year, is one of the most prominent events in the Islamic finance industry. These awards are now widely considered as a benchmark of excellence in the industry.
These three latest awards cap the excellent awards season that that ADIB has had in 2011, winning more than 10 industry awards in total. In November, Tirad Mahmoud had won the Islamic Banker of the Year at the 18th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference 2011. In October 2011, ADIB was named Best Bank in Customer Service from among all UAE banks in Ethos Consultancy’s Annual Bank Benchmarking Index. ADIB was also named the fastest growing bank in the UAE by CPI Financials and the region’s Best Islamic Bank by Banker Middle East.
Commenting on the award, Tirad Mahmoud, CEO of ADIB said: “Over the last three years, ADIB has made a consistent and continuous journey in improving all aspects of banking services, be they for retail or corporate customers. We have launched new services and products at a fast pace, overhauled our operations and improved service quality. From being ‘just another bank’ in 2008 to the most awarded bank in 2011 has been a journey of commitment, faith, hard work and perseverance. These awards are dedicated to our customers and to the people at ADIB who are the force that makes our core promise of offering ‘banking as it should be,’ come alive.”
On ADIB being named ‘Best Wholesale Bank in the GCC,’ Tirad said: “In 2011, we have achieved our twin objectives that we set out with. The first was to be part of every major corporate financing deal in the UAE and the second was to bring more innovation into the structuring of wholesale financing deals. We have consciously adopted the approach to structure deals based on the best interests of our clients. Over the last 3 years, we have completely revamped our wholesale banking business into a world-class proposition that ADIB offers today. We are pleased that the industry has appreciated our achievement with this award.”
Over the last three years, ADIB has expanded its branch network to 66, quadrupled the number of ATM’s and revamped the call centre to world class standards. The bank has introduced new ways to make banking simple and easy for clients such as new mobile and online services, unveiled a new branch concept, improved processes and invested heavily in training its staff.
Islamic Business & Finance, the authoritative voice of the global Islamic finance industry, has a worldwide circulation that spans every continent. It is published by CPI Financial –a group that offers a comprehensive portfolio of market-leading periodicals.