Abu Dhabi (March 20, 2014) – For the second consecutive year, Global Finance, the prestigious international publication, has named the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) the Best Bank in the UAE in 2014.
NBAD was selected as the Best Bank in the UAE by Global Finance editors with input from industry analysts, corporate executives and banking consultants. Criteria for choosing the winners included growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationships, customer service, competitive pricing, and innovative products; as well as a poll of readers for the first time. Polling the readers, Global Finance said, increased the accuracy and reliability of the results.
Global Finance selected NBAD as the Best Bank in the UAE in its recent Best Banks in Emerging Markets.
“Faced with slowing growth and volatile markets, these banks are star performers under increasingly challenging conditions,” said Joseph D. Giarraputo, publisher and editorial director of Global Finance. This recent award compliments other prized acknowledgments by Global Finance, which has ranked NBAD in the World’s 50 Safest Banks since 2009, and the Safest Bank in the Emerging Markets earlier this year.
“Our innovation, robust relationships and commitment to customer service is complemented by NBAD’s strong credit ratings, strong balance sheet and ranking among the world’s top safest banks. They support NBAD’s disciplined strategy and ongoing focus on long term, sustainable growth,” said Alex Thursby, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NBAD. “Our job now is to maintain this prominent position in our home market and use it to achieve our vision to build the largest, safest and best performing bank first in the UAE, and over time in GCC.”
NBAD has 125 branches and 585 ATMs across the UAE. A comprehensive financial institution, NBAD offers a range of banking services including retail, investment and Islamic banking services.
Outside the UAE, NBAD operates in 17 countries from the Far East across the Asian continents to Africa, Europe, North and South America.
NBAD’s growth ambitions are guided by its West-East Corridor Strategy. NBAD will utilise the UAE and NBAD’s strong fundamentals as well as the UAE’s strategic locations to tap into the growing economies that span from West Africa across to East Asia. The ‘Corridor’ includes increasingly important economies in MENA, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and greater China.
NBAD’s long term ratings are now amongst the strongest combined ratings of any global financial institution. The Bank is rated senior long term/short term AA-/A-1+by Standard & Poor’s (S&P), Aa3/P1 by Moody’s, AA-/F1+ by Fitch, A+ by Rating and Investment Information Inc (R&I) Japan, and AAA by RAM (Malaysia).