1. Bahrain’s pioneer in commercial and retail banking
BBK, recently added another success story to their list of achievements through the year 2009. Abdulkarim Bucheery, the Bank’s Chief Executive was recently awarded ‘Banker of the Year’ accolade for 2009 at the World Finance Awards.
The World Finance Awards, now in its third year, is an annual event that recognises industry leaders, individuals, teams and organisations that represent the benchmark of achievements and best practice in the financial and business world. The awards recognise individuals who have, over the course of the year, raised the standards within the banking industry with their innovative strategies and diligence towards their respective institutions.
“I am very pleased by the decision of the World Finance magazine to designate our Chief Executive, Abdulkarim Bucheery, as Banker of the Year for 2009. I would like to congratulate him on this achievement”. said Murad Ali Murad, Chairman – BBK. “This recognition by an international and reputed body reflects Abdulkarim’s accomplishments and also demonstrates the success of BBK’s vision to continue investing in talented and dedicated Bahraini executives.” he added.
Abdulkarim Bucheery, who has worked with the Bank since 2002, was appointed as Chief Executive of BBK in April 2008 and ever since his appointment, it has been his main focus to sustain and improve the competitive positioning of the Bank. His aim of raising the benchmark and quality of banking products and services across the board to create a unique position for the Bank in the local, regional and international market has been gradually taking shape as the Bank sees expansions across the Kingdom of Bahrain with new ‘Financial Malls’ being opened, new products and special services being launched to service the Bank’s VIP, Corporate and NRI clientele.
Mr. Bucheery shares the credit of this achievement by saying, “This is a proud moment not for me in particular, but for BBK and all its staff members at large and I am happy to have received such recognition for all the commitment that has been invested towards attaining a pioneer status for our Bank. Thanks to the support and loyalty of the Bank’s highly qualified employees, we were able to ensure recurring success across all platforms and enable innovative ideas take shape.”
The award handover and an interview was conducted by Hywel Jones formerly of the BBC at the media centre at the London Stock Exchange and the same can be viewed on www.worldfinance.tv
2. BBK wins first place for excellence in Corporate Governance practices.
Bahrain’s pioneer in retail and commercial banking, BBK, was recently awarded with the industry’s most prestigious Bank Corporate Governance Award at a ceremony held in Dubai on the 9th November 2009. The Bank secured first place in a major regional survey on corporate governance conducted by the Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance and the Union of Arab Banks (UAB). Mr Reyadh Sater, General Manager Shared Services Group – BBK, attended the ceremony and accepted the award on behalf of the Bank.
On the joyous occasion, Mr Murad Ali Murad, Chairman – BBK shared his perspective by saying, “At BBK we have always given utmost priority to the core values of Corporate Governance. It is a way of life for us to maintain complete accountability and fairness through our policies that govern the basic functionality of the Bank. We are very happy to be recognized for the Banks excellence in abiding by its Corporate Governance codes and look forward to maintaining this honor in the coming years.”
Launched in 2007 by Hawkamah and UAB, the ‘Bank Corporate Governance’ Award seeks to identify and honor regional banks that show leadership and initiative in enhancing good corporate governance. The award has become a prestigious, competitive and highly coveted bank award that highlights the industry’s strong commitment to good corporate governance.
“A prime factor of being the pioneers of commercial and retail banking in Bahrain for the last 35 years for us is our diligence in complying with the policies laid down by the regulatory authorities. We have ensured that at all levels through out the Bank a high level of transparency is maintained where each employee understands the role they play in making certain our Corporate Governance code is adhered to and we are very glad that we have won such a principle award that recognizes our effort,” said Mr Abdulkarim Bucheery, CE – BBK, who together with Dr Mukund Ballal, head of Compliance and MLRO at BBK attended the panel interview for the final selection.
From his side, Mr. Reyadh Sater, General Manager Shared Services Group – BBK, conveyed his joy at the award ceremony expressing BBK’s longstanding leading position and strong commitment to good corporate governance, being amongst the first Banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain to form an Internal Audit Committee, long before it became a regulatory requirement by the CBB.
The 2009 Bank Corporate Governance Award attracted 30 applications from banks in 11 Middle East countries including UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Morocco, Qatar, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia. An independent jury of international banking and corporate governance experts that included Professor Andrew Chambers, who has extensive experience in corporate governance, risk management and internal auditing; Alan McIntyre, Financial Services Sector Leader for the Middle East Region for PricewaterhouseCoopers; and Charles Freeland, a well-respected international banking consultant and former Deputy Secretary General, Basel Committee on Banking ,reviewed all the applications and conducted.
3. BBK wins Bahrain eContent Award
Proving to be the pioneers in retail and commercial banking yet again, we won the Bahrain eContent Award under the e-Business category for the third year in a row for our innovative and comprehensive website. Our CE, Abdulkarim Bucheery, was presented with the award at a ceremony hosted at the Sheraton Hotel on the 16th of March 2009. The Bahrain Content Award is organized by the eGovernment Authority in Bahrain along with the Bahrain Internet Societyand inspired by WSA - the World Summit Award in order to select quality eContent and promote creativity and innovation in the development of new media applications in Bahrain. Being described as a portal that provides a wide range of online services and allows its customers to carry out their most required daily transactions online by the jury, our website has achieved the aim of providing ‘anytime, anywhere, anyhow’ 24x7 banking services to customers. On accepting the award, Mr. Bucheery expressed his gratitude by saying, “Our focus at BBK is to ensure complete customer satisfaction and we have been at the forefront in incorporating the latest technologies to provide the finest of services to our customers. Our eBanking service is one such example and I am very pleased to see the acceptance it has received through out our customer base and now with our esteemed jurors of the Bahrain eContent Award.”
