ADCB named Best Retail Bank in the UAE for the fourth year in a row

Press release

Published March 29th, 2011 - 12:39 GMT

Al Bawaba

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) was named the “Best Retail Bank in UAE” for the fourth year in a row by The Asian Banker. The award was presented to ADCB at the highly prestigious tenth annual Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Programme held on 11 March 2011 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The consumer banking awards recognised the region’s most outstanding institutions, with The Asian Banker evaluating over 140 banks from 30 countries across Asia Pacific, Central Asia and the Middle East. The awards ceremony was held in conjunction with The Asian Banker’s annual conference, which brought together bankers, consultants and academics from around the world.

The winners were chosen after months of strict evaluation by the judges who reviewed each banks financial performance, business volumes, sustainability of operations, sales capabilities, risk management frameworks, franchise values, credit ratings, quality of assets and efficiency ratios. There were additional non-financial performance indicators such as innovation, leadership, customer service, process and technology efficiency, distribution channels, and transparency.

Arup Mukhopadhyay, Executive Vice President and Head Consumer Banking at ADCB, said, “We are honoured to receive this award for the fourth year running. This award emphasises ADCB’s success in raising the benchmark for banks in the region and acknowledges the array of initiatives implemented by us throughout 2010, all of which improve both customer service and shareholder value. These initiatives range from our new CRM and credit scoring systems right through to branding and enhanced efficiency within the Bank. We acquired and successfully integrated the RBS Retail Banking & SME Business in the UAE. The acquisition has doubled ADCB’s cards business and catapulted ADCB as one of the top 3 players in the Cards industry. The acquisition has also added significant scale to ADCB’s Wealth Management.

“Throughout 2010, ADCB bolstered its retail offering with products such as the highly popular ADCB Etihad “Above” credit cards. The award recognises all the hard work ADCB’s staff put in throughout the year and we look forward to building on this success in 2011.”

Background Information

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank

ADCB was formed in 1985 and today after integration employs over 3,350 people from over 45 nationalities, serving approximately 590,000 retail customers and over 20,000 wholesale clients. It is the third largest bank in the UAE and second largest in Abu Dhabi by assets, at AED 163.7 billion as at March 31st, 2010.

ADCB is a full-service commercial bank which offers a wide range of products and services such as retail banking, wealth management, private banking, corporate banking, commercial banking, cash management, investment banking, corporate finance, foreign exchange, interest rate, currency, derivative, Islamic products, project finance and property management services.

ADCB is owned 64.8% by the Abu Dhabi Government through the Abu Dhabi Investment Council. Its shares are traded on the Abu Dhabi Securities Market.

ADCB has won the Silver class category of The Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award (SKEA) for the finance sector in November, 2009. In February 2010, ADCB won The World Finance Corporate Governance Award for “Best Corporate Governance in the UAE” and was recently named “Best Retail Bank in the UAE and GCC 2010” by The Asian Banker magazine in March 2010.