CBD's Attijari Al Islami is 'Islamic Bank of the Year for the UAE 2013'

Attijari Al Islami, Commercial Bank of Dubai’s Islamic banking unit, has received the ‘Islamic Bank of the Year Award for the UAE 2013’ from 'The Banker' magazine, a banking and finance publication of the Financial Times.

The award was announced in the June issue of 'The Banker' and the trophy will be presented at the ‘FT Events – Islamic Financial Intelligence Summit’ that will be held in Kuala Lumpur in November 2013.

“This prestigious award for CBD is yet another milestone in line with our vision to lead the way to greater economic and social prosperity. Attijari Al Islami has been continuously enhancing the banking experience by offering value-added services to our Islamic clients,” said Peter Baltussen, CBD’s CEO.

“This award proves that we are on the right track. Winning the ‘Islamic Bank of the Year for the UAE’ Award enhances our position as a leading bank in the creation of Sharia’a-compliant banking products and services. This is especially important because it comes from a credible publication,” he added.

The Banker awards the banks which have made the most progress over the 12 months hence the term, ‘Bank of the Year’. As Islamic banks continue to post impressive figures compared to their conventional counterparts, The Banker launches its inaugural awards aimed at celebrating this financial sector.

With a global award, regional winners for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, as well as 13 country prizes, the awards show what an impressive geographical reach Islamic finance has established.

Banks are judged on their ability to deliver shareholder returns, their strategies used to gain proven market advantage, as well as the success and innovation on the launch of their competitive products.

“We continuously enhance and expand our Islamic banking services to ensure that these are user-friendly and customer-centric. The bank is now known as the bank of first choice of family-owned businesses as well as entrepreneurs and its adherence to Sharia principles in respect of Islamic banking products and services,” Baltussen said in a statement.

“To date we have more than 33 products under Attijari Al Islami which are fully Sharia’a -compliant. A pronounced adherence to quality and service leadership has always been the hallmarks of CBD and these factors will continue to be strong differentiators in the years ahead as we continue to expand,” he added.

Nabil Tayeb Khoury, Head of Attijari Al Islami at CBD said: “Our growth strategy is based on our success in meeting the diverse needs of our clients, taking into account their aspirations and objectives. Our relationship managers work closely with our clients to provide customised banking solutions that meet their needs.”

CBD has introduced innovative products and services to its commercial banking clients such as the ‘Mudaraba Tasdeer Finance’ and Factoring. For the consumer banking segment, the Bank introduced customised product bundles to build strong relationships and loyalty, through the ‘Absher Personal Finance’. In addition, the ‘Shahrazad Al Islami’ membership was introduced exclusively for the Ladies Banking segment.

Nabil Khoury said: “We take pride of this international recognition and we will continue to improve our products to ensure the satisfaction of our customers, because our customers’ satisfaction is our main award. I take this opportunity to thank our customers for their confidence in us, our Sharia’a Board for their guidance, our staff for their dedicated efforts and all those who contributed to this achievement.”

A strong testament to the adoption of business excellence framework has been the string of awards and accolades that the Bank has won namely – Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award – Gold Category, Dubai Quality Award – Gold Category, Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Award and Sharjah Economic Excellence Award – Gold Category, to name a few.