Emirates NBD, a leading bank in the region, announced today that it has won the Banker Middle East Award 2010 in the Best Use of Technology category, building on its success in April when it won the 2010 Financial Sector Technology (FST London) award for "Systems Integration Project of the Year." The award was received by Ali Sajwani, Chief Information Officer, Emirates NBD, at a gala dinner held at the Godolphin Ballroom in Emirates Towers Hotel, Dubai.
Emirates NBD was selected as the best out of five nominees, shortlisted by the Banker Middle East panel of judges, who consisted of previous winners, financial regulators and consultants, as well as industry experts. The shortlist was selected from entries received from 107 financial institutions across the Middle East.
"We are extremely pleased to have been named the winner of Best Use of Technology Award this year, as it recognises the considerable achievements of Emirates NBD in the area of technology over the past 12 months, " said Abdulla Qassem, Group Chief Operating Officer at Emirates NBD. "This award is a tribute to the successful systems integration programme completed in November 2009, which was an essential cornerstone in the merger process, enabling the IT systems of the two legacy banks to operate as one. "
Ali Sajwani, Chief Information Officer at Emirates NBD said, "In addition to the integration project, completed in a remarkable 30 month-period, the award also recognised the bank's use of technology in countless areas, such as our online, telephone, PDA and mobile banking services. Our strategic use of technology has enabled us to provide leading-edge solutions to meet our customers' financial services needs and international best practice standards."
Out of 29 categories, a total of 26 banks and financial institutions from across the GCC, Levant and North Africa received awards. The final winner in each category was selected via an online poll conducted among financial services practitioners who are also registered readers of Banker Middle East magazine.
Other awards won by Emirates NBD in the Information Technology category include Network World Middle East's "Data Centre Project of the Year" Award 2010, for the bank's state-of-the-art Data Centre in Al Barsha, Dubai. Emirates NBD has also been recognised for its contribution to financial services when it won Banker Middle East's Products Award 2010 in the "Best Personal Loan" category and was also named Best Retail Bank in 2009.
