Voting begins for the Banker Middle East Industry Awards 2009

Nigel Rodrigues, CEO of CPI Financial, publisher of Banker Middle East, comments,

"The Banker Middle East Industry Awards set the benchmark for excellence amongst the region's financial institutions. In turbulent times, we believe it is more important than ever to recognise those institutions that are continuing to be successful."

The winners of the Banker Middle East Industry Awards are chosen in an open vote by their peers. Only registered readers of Banker Middle East and subscribers to CPI Financial newsletters are eligible to vote.

Robin Amlôt, Managing Editor of CPI Financial said, "I congratulate those institutions on our shortlist. By reaching this stage they have already received the approbation of key players in and observers of the financial industry in the MENA region.

Banker Middle East brought together a panel of judges to nominate a shortlist of institutions in 22 categories. In addition there are two 'write-in' categories for individual nominations:

"Banker of the Year" and "Lifetime Achievement Award". The "Banker of the Year" will be the most exceptional CEO over the last 12 months and the "Lifetime Achievement Award" will go to the individual who has played a significant role in the development and progression of the banking community in the MENA region over many years.

Past winners of "Banker of the Year" include Rick Pudner (Emirates NBD, UAE) and R. Seetharaman (Doha Bank, Qatar). Past Winners of the "Lifetime Achievement Award" include HE Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer (UAE) and Abdulkareem Abu Alnasr (Saudi Arabia). Previous "Best Bank" winners include Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (UAE), NBK (Kuwait) and Doha Bank (Qatar).

Thousands of senior executives in financial institutions throughout the MENA region will be casting their votes over the next four weeks. Their decisions on the short-lists will be based on institutions' overall performance based on results, innovation, improvement and growth over the last 12 months.