Middle Eastern regional awards
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Best Bank: Bank Audi |
No contest to be leading bank in a country is more fiercely fought or harder to decide than that between Bank Audi and Blom Bank. And this year the choice is no easier between two excellently managed institutions that continue to deliver superb financial services in conditions that are often politically and economically extremely difficult. Blom Bank’s achievements included strong financial results, an excellent reputation with its corporate clients, an innovative approach that saw it launch the region’s first equity fund and a successful international expansion strategy.
However the award this year goes narrowly to Bank Audi, which closed the largest capital increase ever in the Lebanese banking sector when it raised its capital to $1.7 billion.
These new funds helped finance Bank Audi’s regional expansion, which in the last year included the acquisition of an Egyptian bank, a 75% stake in the National Bank of Sudan, and licences to open for business in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and the Qatar Financial Centre. The bank is now represented in seven Middle East countries.