Manama, Bahrain: The organisers of the 22nd annual World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC) recognized excellence within the Islamic finance and banking industry at a high profile Gala Dinner in the Gulf Hotel in Bahrain. In all 18 WIBC Performance Awards were granted to the top Islamic financial institutions based purely on their performance at the global, regional and national levels.
Masraf Al Rayan came away with the global award, testament to its strong performance in the financial metrics of the WIBC Leaderboard. The Leader board, an initiative conceived by the conveners of WIBC – Middle East Global Advisors – is a groundbreaking performance assessment tool aimed at enabling Islamic financial institutions to benchmark their performance against their peers. It formed the basis of the WIBC Performance Awards, which aggregates numerous financial metrics from the Leaderboard.
The WIBC Performance Awards represents WIBC’s a commitment to objective and quantitative approach to assessing banking performance.
“We are honoured to be recognized as the best performing bank and we believe that the recognition gained is based on our transparency and our strict adherence of Islamic banking principles which include honesty and integrity to all our stakeholders. At Hong Leong Islamic Bank, we engage in proactive reporting to support the fundamental elements of corporate sustainability as well as to enhance market perceptions on Islamic finance. More importantly, an element reflecting an increased global financial reporting standards in our Annual reporting is that also includes Shari’ah audit report,” Speaking on her bank’s win of the industry’s flagship award within the Southeast Asian category, the CEO of Hong Leong Islamic Bank, Raja Teh Maimunah Raja Abdul Aziz, said.
“The WIBC Performance Awards are based on a solid quantitative methodology, assessing Islamic banks across more than a dozen indicators of financial performance, financial stability, governance and social responsibility. This award cannot be manipulated and is also audited by Ernst and Young,” Dr. Sayd Farook, Vice Chairman & CEO of Middle East Global Advisors, the convenors or WIBC, said while highlighting the sheer importance of rigorous objective assessment underpinning the awards.
“The award winners should be commended on the quality and dedication of the management team and their sincerity not only to perform well, but also to do it on a sound and ethical basis.”
The Awards were handed over by H.E. Rasheed Mohamed Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain and Mr. Khalid Hamad, Executive Director for Banking Supervision at the Central Bank of Bahrain.
The overall winners of the 22nd Annual WIBC Performance Awards were:
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Global
Masraf Al Rayan
Best Performing Islamic Bank – GCC
Masraf Al Rayan
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Levant
Jordan Islamic Bank
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Southeast Asia
Hong Leong Islamic Bank
Best Performing Islamic Bank – South Asia
Social Islami Bank Limited
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Bahrain
Bahrain Islamic Bank
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Bangladesh
Social Islami Bank Limited
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Egypt
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank – Egypt
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Indonesia
Bank BNI Syariah
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Jordan
Jordan Islamic Bank
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Kuwait
Boubyan Bank
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Oman
Bank Nizwa
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Pakistan
Meezan Bank Limited
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Qatar
Masraf Al Rayan
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Saudi Arabia
Bank AlBilad
Best Performing Islamic Bank – Turkey
Turkiye Finans Katilim
Best Performing Islamic Bank – UAE
Noor Bank
