Global Finance, an international financial publication, has announced the first round winners in the “World’s Best Internet Banks” competition in Middle East and Africa (MEA).

First round winners include best corporate/institutional Internet banks and best consumer Internet banks at the country level. Winners were also selected in Asia, North America, Latin America, Europe and CEE.

The regional and global winners for these categories will be announced at an awards ceremony in New York City in November and published in the December issue of Global Finance.

Also announced were regional winners in Sub-Categories. Global winners in the Sub-Categories will also be announced at the awards ceremony and in the December issue.

Winners were chosen among entries evaluated by a world-class panel of judges at Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing. Global Finance editors were responsible for the final selection of winners in the first round.

Only banks that entered the competition were considered for awards, and awards were only given in those regions, countries and categories in which there were entries.

Winning banks were selected based on the strength of strategy for attracting and servicing online customers, success in getting clients to use web offerings, growth of online customers, breadth of product offerings, evidence of tangible benefits gained from Internet initiatives, and web site design and functionality. Category winners, such as “best in social media” were selected based on the relative strength and success of those web products and services.

“The Internet has transformed the way many consumers and most businesses bank,” said Joseph D Giarraputo, publisher of Global Finance. “The continuing improvements in Internet offerings represented by this year’s entries show that more significant Internet banking developments are still ahead of us.”

COUNTRY WINNERS

Best Consumer Internet Banks:
Bahrain – Citi
Egypt – Citi
Ghana – Standard Chartered
Israel – Bank Leumi
Jordan – Arab Bank
Kenya – Standard Chartered
Lebanon – Blom Bank
Mozambique – Banco Unico
Qatar – Mashreq Bank
Saudi Arabia – Samba Financial Group
United Arab Emirates – Standard Chartered
Zambia – Standard Chartered

REGIONAL SUB-CATEGORY WINNERS

Best Consumer Internet Banks:
Best Online Deposit, Credit and Investment Product Offerings – Standard Chartered
Best Bill Payment & Presentment –
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
Best Web Site Design – Standard Chartered
Best Integrated Consumer Bank Site – Samba Financial Group
Best Information Security Initiatives – Standard Chartered
Best in Mobile Banking – Samba Financial Group
Best in Social Media – Standard Chartered

This is the 14th year Global Finance has named the world’s best Internet banks. Details on all first round winners will be published in the September issue, a statement said.

-    TradeArabia News Service