Mashreq rated as ‘Best Regional Retail Bank’

Mashreq, a leading Gulf-based financial institution, was chosen for the ‘Best Regional Retail Bank Award’ at the Banker Middle East Industry Awards 2012, which took place recently. The award, Mashreq said, is a testament to its growing regional capabilities and retail operations, in the entire region.Since inception, Mashreq has been a pioneer in the UAE banking landscape. The bank is known to have launched ‘first of kind products’ such as First travellers’ cheques, First credit cards and First ATMs. With an extensive branch network in the UAE, Mashreq’s regional presence includes Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Egypt and representatives offices across the globe. This recognition reflects the bank’s innovative retail propositions and services offered to customers based on their financial requirements during the period under review.Farhad Irani, Head of Retail Banking attended the awards ceremony and received the award on behalf of AbdulAziz al-Ghurair, CEO of Mashreq.Al-Ghurair said, “This award is a direct recognition of Mashreq’s long standing history and we are very proud to be a recipient of it. Our commitment to this market and the Region is a priority. The banking industry has weathered various crises; however collectively we have succeeded to overcome it. At Mashreq, we are continuously challenging and developing ourselves for the past four decades.“The award ceremony was attended by senior banking executives and decision makers in the financial industry. The annual event seeks to showcase successful institutions within the region and highlight not only profits, but performance measure and recognising innovation and development achieved by the most forward thinking institutions in the Middle East, setting the benchmark for excellence amongst the region’s financial institutions.”Irani said, “The Best Regional Retail Bank Award is truly a testimony to Mashreq’s retail strategy and the effort that has been put into it by my team to develop a range of revolutionary products and services. Our constant focus is to delight our customers by creating powerful propositions. We are committed to ‘Kaizen’ a process of constant improvement to outperform ourselves and ensure that we never veer off-course.“Nominees for the Banker Middle East Award were selected by a panel of banking and financial experts, which were then voted by the readers of Banker Middle East magazine. A record number of participants from the Mena region cast their votes based on overall performance, innovation, and improvements to determine the winners in the 23 categories”.