"The Banker" names NBK Best Bank in ME for 2005

NBK's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ibrahim S. Dabdoub commented on the award by saying: "NBK has been able to carve out its ever growing regional niches, despite the existence of other regional titans, by reaching out across borders with acquisitions and alliances that transformed it into a regional powerhouse. The challenge now is to stay at the top and maintain our powerhouse by keeping up our record of consistent growth in profits, and pursing further growth opportunities, backed up by a focused strategy and a solid financial profile.

The Banker, represented by its Editor-In-Chief, Mr. Stephen Timewell, attributes NBK's new achievement to its strong growth, good expansion in the region, and strong deal growth. Timewell stated that NBK has been able to build a solid network of branches, subsidiaries, and representative offices in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Bahrain, Beirut, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq, Singapore, Thailand, and have also announced plans to establish new branches in Jeddah and Dubai in addition to a representative office in China. NBK has proved to be growing rapidly and steadily through the past years and therefore is rightfully selected as the best bank in the region for the fifth year in a row.

NBK has long been distinguished by having the highest credit ratings given to any bank in the region by international rating agencies including Moody's, FitchRating, S&P and Capital Intelligence.