Awards for Excellence 1999: Middle East

Best foreign bank: Citibank
Best local bank: Gulf International Bank, National Bank of Kuwait

Citibank competes for the title of best foreign bank in many of the Gulf States, the Levant and also North Africa. The bank is present in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and the Palestine National Authority. In Bahrain, where the bank has been established for almost 30 years, the bank has just started to build a new Gulf/Levant regional headquarters.

The bank offers a full range of wholesale and retail products in the key locations - from project financings to ATM services. In Bahrain it has been involved in US Exim-guaranteed loans for corporates, was lead arranger on a $720 million project financing and a $300 million private placement for banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) area. Citi is also the only...