National Bank of Bahrain was awarded the Best Retail Bank in Bahrain Award at The 11th Asian Banker Excellence in Retail Financial Services International Award 2012. At a glittering award ceremony held in Singapore, The Asian Banker bestowed this honour. The award ceremony was held together with The 8th Inter-Regional Heads of Retail Financial Services Annual Meeting on 23rd March, 2012 at Singapore. The Excellence in Retail Financial Services Programme was instituted in 2001 to recognize the pursuit of excellence amongst retail financial institutions in the region. The programme is also a repository of evolving best practices from which players can benchmark their own products and processes over the long term. More than 160 retail financial institutions from the Asian Pacific, Central Asia, the Gulf region and Africa were assessed taking into account a whole host of criteria which took into account the institution’s performance, sustainability, risk management capabilities, operational procedures and ethical standards. The recipients of this award were chosen by an internationally acclaimed panel of jurists. Mr. Abdul Razak Al Qassim, CEO and director of NBB commented "Over the years, NBB has actively encouraged innovation and creative thinking by creating tailor-made modules which has been immensely successful. It is important for us to be able to play a crucial role not only in the development of the banking industry but also in the overall economic development of the markets we do business in. This award is a strong support of the vision set out by the management for NBB and reinforces the fact that diligent customer relations management will always be a cornerstone of our growth. NBB management approach has always been professional, transparent and more importantly, solution-driven. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone at NBB for their commitment, dedication and perseverance for the betterment of the organization which has been a prime reason behind our success and recognition." Mr. Abdul Aziz Al Ahmed, General Manager, Domestic Banking Group represented NBB at the award ceremony. While receiving the award, he said "It is a great honour to be here and receive the award for the Best Retail Bank in Bahrain. It is truly a privilege to be acclaimed by your peers across the globe. We, at NBB have always endeavoured to ensure that our stakeholders remain our utmost priority and this encompasses the whole gamut of the society including shareholders, customers, our business partners and our employees. Our people are the face of the Bank and it gives me great pleasure to be out here and accept this award on their behalf. This award from The Asian Banker validates our belief that a vibrant, efficiently managed institution would always be recognised for its achievements irrespective of the geographical sphere it runs its business in."