Bahrain’s pioneer in retail and commercial banking, BBK, was recently awarded with the industry’s most prestigious Bank Corporate Governance Award at a ceremony held in Dubai on the 9th November 2009. The Bank secured first place in a major regional survey on corporate governance conducted by the Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance and the Union of Arab Banks (UAB). Mr Reyadh Sater, General Manager Shared Services Group – BBK, attended the ceremony and accepted the award on behalf of the Bank.

On the joyous occasion, Mr Murad Ali Murad, Chairman – BBK shared his perspective by saying, “At BBK we have always given utmost priority to the core values of Corporate Governance. It is a way of life for us to maintain complete accountability and fairness through our policies that govern the basic functionality of the Bank. We are very happy to be recognized for the Banks excellence in abiding by its Corporate Governance codes and look forward to maintaining this honor in the coming years.”

Launched in 2007 by Hawkamah and UAB, the ‘Bank Corporate Governance’ Award seeks to identify and honor regional banks that show leadership and initiative in enhancing good corporate governance. The award has become a prestigious, competitive and highly coveted bank award that highlights the industry’s strong commitment to good corporate governance.

“A prime factor of being the pioneers of commercial and retail banking in Bahrain for the last 35 years for us is our diligence in complying with the policies laid down by the regulatory authorities. We have ensured that at all levels through out the Bank a high level of transparency is maintained where each employee understands the role they play in making certain our Corporate Governance code is adhered to and we are very glad that we have won such a principle award that recognizes our effort,” said Mr Abdulkarim Bucheery, CE – BBK, who together with Dr Mukund Ballal, head of Compliance and MLRO at BBK attended the panel interview for the final selection.

From his side, Mr. Reyadh Sater, General Manager Shared Services Group – BBK, conveyed his joy at the award ceremony expressing BBK’s longstanding leading position and strong commitment to good corporate governance, being amongst the first Banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain to form an Internal Audit Committee, long before it became a regulatory requirement by the CBB.

The 2009 Bank Corporate Governance Award attracted 30 applications from banks in 11 Middle East countries including UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Morocco, Qatar, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia. An independent jury of international banking and corporate governance experts that included Professor Andrew Chambers, who has extensive experience in corporate governance, risk management and internal auditing; Alan McIntyre, Financial Services Sector Leader for the Middle East Region for PricewaterhouseCoopers; and Charles Freeland, a well-respected international banking consultant and former Deputy Secretary General, Basel Committee on Banking ,reviewed all the applications and conducted