Ahli United Bank (AUB) has been named Bank of the Year - Bahrain for 2009 by The Banker magazine.

This is the fourth year running AUB has won the award by this affiliate publication of the UK's Financial Times Group.

The Banker's 10th Bank of the Year Awards edition acknowledges those banks which proved successful in navigating the stormy waters of this year, one of the most challenging years in decades.

The Banker took particular note of AUB's ability to maintain its strategy of regional expansion and organic growth through difficult global financial conditions and also adjust its operational model to minimise the impact of the global crisis on its performance.

It also noted that through tight asset/liability management, robust cost controls and a successful $800 million refinancing in September last year, AUB helped maintain its operational efficiency while still extending its regional strategy.

This accolade joins a string of others AUB has won this year, including Global Finance's Best Bank in the Middle East 2009 award as well as the Elite Quality Recognition Award by JP Morgan Chase.

'These awards are a tribute not only to the expertise and ongoing efforts of our teams and the resilience of our business model and franchise, but above all to the profound loyalty and trust of our client base. It is particularly gratifying to win this award for the most extraordinary year in recent banking memory,' said AUB chairman Fahad Al Rajaan.

'Our prudent risk policy culture and disciplined balance sheet controls have stood us in a good position to mitigate the ramifications of the global financial crisis while maintaining our strategic focus to grow, diversify and deliver real value in terms of profitability to our shareholders and excellent products and services offering to our esteemed customers.-TradeArabia News Service