ADCB wins Hawkamah Bank Corporate Governance award 2012

Press release

Published June 19th, 2012 - 09:38 GMT

Al Bawaba

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) has won the Hawkamah Bank Corporate Governance Award 2012. The Award was presented by Dr. Nasser Saidi, Executive Director of Hawkamah, at the Banker Middle East Industry Awards on 12 June 2012 held at the Emirates Towers in Dubai.

The award, presented on behalf of the Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance, aims to recognize, support and encourage superior governance practices in the Banking sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The award was open to all Arab Banks in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia and showcases banks that excel in corporate governance practices, and have moved beyond the legal and regulatory requirements imposed by their respective jurisdictions.

The award process consisted of an initial questionnaire application process which assessed corporate governance practices against five focus areas; commitment to good corporate governance, structure and functioning of the board of directors, control environment and processes, disclosure and transparency and shareholders rights.

The judging panel, which consisted of independent international corporate governance experts, then conducted an initial review of all questionnaire applications creating a short-list of the top ten regional banks. Senior management from the ten shortlisted banks were invitedto attend one-to-one interviews with the judging panel and from these interviews the winnerwas selected.

Simon Copleston, General Counsel & Board Secretary at ADCB, commented: “Receiving the Hawkamah Bank Corporate Governance Award 2012 is an honor for ADCB and we are delighted to have been again as a regional leader in governance . Whilst we are proud to establish, as well as challenge, the benchmark for standards in our industry, we are also committed to working with our clients, peers and partners to improve governance standards generally across the region. Whilst good governance processes are important , it is not possible to achieve high levels of governance without leadership and commitment from the Chairman, the Chief Executive, the Board, and the senior management, all of whom made this award possible.

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.