Hawkamah, the Institute for corporate governance, is inviting all Arab banks in the Mena region to send in their entries by May 10 for winning the best 'Bank Corporate Governance Awards.'

The award was launched in 2007 by the Hawkamah to honour banks that have taken the extra steps necessary in improving their Corporate Governance practices, beyond the legal and regulatory requirements.

Hawkamah said the 7th Bank Corporate Governance Award winners will be announced in June.

Leonardo Peklar, the CEO of Hawkamah said, "As a recognition tool, the Bank Corporate Governance Award has been a growing success over the past 6 years, and Arab banks have embraced the importance of governance as a pillar in strengthening the economy and corporate performance."

"Year on year, we have seen the growing interestof participationfrom regional Arab banks in the awards," he stated.

All participants must meet specific criteria in order to participate in the award, which are commitment to good corporate governance, structure and functioning of the board of directors, control environment and processes, disclosure and transparency, shareholders and stakeholders rights.

"The process of choosing the winners starts with review of all the applications by a prominent independent jury panel of international corporate governance banking experts, shortlist the top five acquiescent banks, conduct one-on-one interviews with the finalists, and announce the winner at the Banker Middle East Industry Awards in the first week of June 2013," he added.

The jury comprises Charles Freeland, retired deputy secretary general of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland; Prof Andrew D Chambers, the specialist advisor to the House of Lords’ Economic Affairs Select Committee’s Inquiry into Auditors; Dr Grant Kirkpatrick, former deputy head of the Corporate Affairs division of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs and Dr Rainer Geiger, Prof of International Economic Law, and ex-senior regional advisor, OECD.

Dr Kirkpatrick said the previous Hawkamah Corporate Governance Awards have shown that some banks in the region have good corporate governance systems but that others are lagging.

Charles Freeland stressed the importance of the awards for the region by saying, “These awards provide exactly the right incentives to improve banks' due process and to promote robust checks and balances in the management of increasingly complex risks.

Dr Rainer Geiger said the awards provide an opportunity for banks in the region to demonstrate their efforts in the search for excellence.

In addition to the award process, all participants will receive a high level Corporate Governance Report benchmarking them against the industry average, he added.

Leonardo pointed out that winners are defining current best practices in the region and this will act as a catalyst for the entire sector to elevate their governance practices.-TradeArabia News Service