Emirates NBD named Best Transaction Bank in Middle East and Africa at The Asian Banker Middle East & Africa Risk and Transaction Awards 2018

• Continued investments in channel and product development drove growth in Emirates NBD’s transaction business
• Strategic industry relationships to counter volatility in trade flows
• Focus on making payment experience seamless

Dubai, November 29th 2018- With an audit based approach from 2018, the recipients of the MEA Risk and Transaction Awards were assessed through a stringent evaluation process comprising surveys, interviews and field research by The Asian Banker’s research staff.

Continued investments in channel and product development drove growth in Emirates NBD’s transaction business

For delivering twice the growth in deposits relative to the industry, and migrating 97% of its customer base to SMART business, the online channel for corporate clients,Emirates NBD was recognised as Best Cash Management and Transaction Bank in Middle East and Africa at The Asian Banker MEA Risk and Transaction Awards Programme 2018. A 12% drop in cash deposits and a 109% rise in electronic cheques, reflects the seriousness of its commitment to digitalise key aspects of its transaction business. Continuing to make investments into channel and product capabilities to meet end-to-end market requirements, the bank launched the Future Lab to accelerate the pace of smart service adoption in UAE. With strong processing capabilities achieved through robotics processing automation (RPA), the bank reported 84% STP for all transactions.

Strategic industry relationships to counter volatility in trade flows

Taking note of heightened volatility in trade flows on account of certain geopolitical events, banks across Middle East and Africa leveraged their existing correspondent networks and in-house servicing capabilities to cushion revenue slowdown in trade business.

Drawing its competitive advantages from a well-established network of correspondents, competitive pricing strategy and ability to service large corporates across oil & gas, construction and electricity sector, National Bank of Egypt was recognised as Best Trade Finance and Transaction Bank in Egypt.

Leveraging upon its highly integrated cash and trade finance business based on systems, processes, value propositions and people, ABSA Bank delivered mandates across energy, civil aviation and construction sectors in key markets of Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius and Seychelles. It was named as Best Trade Finance Bank in South Africa.

For undertaking a complex structured trade deal for a client with operations in a country with low credit appetite, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank was awarded Best Trade Finance Bank in UAE.

Focus on making payment experience seamless

Enjoying high STP rates covering single and bulk payments, National Commercial Bank was recognised as Best Transaction Bank in Saudi Arabia for migrating all outbound and inbound payments to its New Payment Engine. Being the first Saudi bank to go live with SWIFT gpi, the bank successfully implemented a structured end-to-end digital solution for a major telecom operator, reducing operational delay from 4 days to one hour whilst improving the cash flows.

Implementing a more secure SWIFTnet solution for its large regional corporate clients and for undertaking API based payments to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Philippines on its Corporate Internet Banking portal and mobile, Commercial Bank, Qatar could make instant payment to beneficiary account. It was recognised as Best Transaction Bank in Qatar.

The Asian Banker MEA Risk and Transaction Awards Programme is designed to identify emerging best practices and outstanding achievements of the best-run risk management teams and evaluate their achievements in cash management, payments, and trade finance business.

To know more about the evaluation criteria, awards process kindly visit this page. 

View the MEA Risk and Transaction Awards 2018 gallery.

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Alfred Labiccasi
Marketing Manager
The Asian Banker
Tel: +44 1823 711134
alabiccasi@theasianbanker.com