Bahrain’s pioneer in retail and commercial banking, was honored for “Distinguished Corporate Governance” at the “Hawkamah-UAB 2010 Bank Corporate Governance Award” ceremony held in Muscat on 1st November, 2010. BBK’s commitment for Corporate Governance best practices have been recognized for the second consecutive year as it was the winner of last year’s 1st prize “2009 Bank Corporate Governance Award”. Mr. Reyadh Sater, General Manager Shared Services Group – BBK, attended the ceremony and accepted the award on behalf of the Bank.

In announcing the award, Professor Andrews, the chairman of the jury panel, lauded the commitment displayed by BBK in furthering the Corporate Governance practices, always ahead of the regulatory standards, as the Bank continues to be proactive in taking initiatives to enhance the Corporate Governance standards.

On this occasion, Mr. Murad Ali Murad, Chairman – BBK shared his perspective by saying, “Recognizing the Bank’s distinguished Corporate Governance practices for this year shows BBK continuous commitment to the core values of Corporate Governance.  It is one of our priorities to abide by accountable and fair policies that govern the functionality of the Bank and we look forward to maintaining this excellence in the coming years.”

“BBK has always maintained high levels of compliance with regulatory authorities in Corporate Governance matters. Our principles are communicated to all levels throughout the Bank to assure transparency and excellent governance. We are very proud to receive such award” said Mr Abdulkarim Bucheery, Chief Executive – BBK.

Mr. Reyadh Sater, General Manager Shared Services Group – BBK, remarked, “It was an honor to receive the award on behalf of BBK. Our Bank has continuously pursued excellence in serving its stakeholders which explains our dedication and determination towards outstanding Corporate Governance”.

Hawkamah, The Institute for Corporate Governance and the Union of Arab Banks (UAB) has launched the award, “Hawkamah-UAB 2010 Bank Corporate Governance Award”, in 2007 as a regional initiative aiming at recognizing and  honoring Arab banks that have gone the extra mile in improving their corporate governance practices. Some 35 Banks competed for the Award this year from countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and the UAE.

The judging panel for the Award included eminent international corporate governance experts – Alan McIntyre, Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Professor Andrew D Chambers, author and worldwide authority on corporate governance; and Chris Pierce, CEO of Global Governance Services Ltd.. The Jury panel judged that the quality of the applications and the corporate governance efforts and improvements made by banks had significantly improved over the past year, increasing the difficulty of choosing the top banks.

Dr. Nasser Saidi, Executive Director, Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance remarked, “Hawkamah is pleased to congratulate and honor our winners for their excellence in corporate governance. Our banks are the basis of financial intermediation in the region and underlie the performance of our economies. . Their success is our success. “