Istanbul, Turkey – Qatar National Bank (QNB) was named the Best Bank in Qatar at Global Finance magazine’s thirteenth annual Best Bank Awards ceremony held at the same time as the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Istanbul, Turkey.
More than 200 bank CEOs and senior financial officers and central bankers attended the gala ceremony.
In selecting the winners, the judges considered criteria such as growth in assets, profitability, geographic reach, strategic relationships, new business development and product innovation. They also relied on the opinions of equity and credit-rating analysts, banking consultants and others in the industry, as well as corporate finance executives.
“A year after the failure of some major global financial institutions, companies and investors are looking for assurance of their banks’ credit-worthiness,” said Joseph Giarraputo, publisher of Global Finance. “But also, more than ever, they are demanding superior competence.
Hopefully, these lists will help them find the most competent financial partners,” he said describing the purpose of these awards. The winners are not always the biggest banks but, rather, the best banks - those with the qualities that corporations should look for when choosing a bank, he says.
Global Finance had earlier also named QNB, the Best Foreign Exchange Bank, and the Best Trade Finance Provider in Qatar.
QNB’s nomination for the Best Bank award was based on its impressive performance in 2008 when the Bank’s earnings increased by 45.2% and surpassed the $1 billion mark for the first time ever. At the end of 2008, the Bank’s assets rose by 32.9% to $42 billion (QR152.0 billion), making it one of the largest banks in the region. QNB also embarked on progressively introducing a more extensive line of Islamic products in both its corporate and retail banking businesses.
The Global Finance Awards have become a recognized and trusted standard of excellence in finance and the publisher this year identified the best banks in 123 countries, as well as the best banks globally in 11 key banking categories.