The World Islamic Banking Award Winners Announced Today
Tirad Mahmoud voted as the Islamic Banker of the Year for 2011

Bahrain: 22 November 2011: The achievements, innovations, and excellence in the international Islamic banking and finance industry were recognised today at the 18th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC 2011) held at the Gulf International Convention Centre in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The annual WIBC Awards, which are among the oldest and most prestigious in the world, are designed to recognize individuals and institutions that have made a significant contribution to the Islamic banking and finance industry.

H.E. Rasheed M. Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, presented the awards to the winners at an impressive gala dinner and awards ceremony held on the sidelines of WIBC 2011. More than 1,200 industry leaders from over 50 countries gathered at the conference.

Tirad Mahmoud, Chief Executive Officer of ADIB, was named the 2011 WIBC Islamic Banker of the Year. The WIBC Islamic Banker of the Year award uses a unique peer-based voting system to identify the winner from a short-list of nominees with the results audited by Ernst & Young, the official award auditors. The Award is presented to an individual who is an established banker, leading a reputable financial services provider, who, during the year 2011, has contributed significantly to the Islamic financial services industry. The key criteria set by the awards committee for the award included excellence in leadership, overall strategic direction of their Islamic banking business, new strategic initiatives and innovations, and overall contribution to the global Islamic banking and finance industry. With his 25 years of experience in the banking and finance industry, Tirad has led ADIB unscathed through turbulent times to achieve record profits this year. Under his dynamic leadership, ADIB is now a top-tier Islamic financial services institution, one of the fastest growing Islamic banks in the GCC and a leader in customer service standards in the region.

Based on select criteria assessed by the WIBC Awards Committee, the WIBC 2011 Institutional Excellence Award 2011, was presented to Elaf Bank in recognition of their well-defined growth path harmonious with its intent of broadening the opportunities and growing the geographical scope and reach of Islamic finance to benefit both the Middle East and South East Asia regions, and beyond. Receiving the award, Dr. Jamil El-Jaroudi, Chief Executive Officer of Elaf Bank said that "we are very proud to receive the WIBC Institutional Excellence Award 2011 and see it as a vote of confidence for our strategy. A strategy that was revisited as a result of the world economic crisis to confirm the flexibility of our organization and its responsiveness to a dynamic situation in order to meet the challenges of these turbulent times. There can be no doubt that this award will serve as an endorsement of the collective efforts of various resources working together to further advance the Islamic finance industry, on a macro level, and our institution's resilience, on a micro level. Our gratitude for this special recognition goes to our shareholders for their unwavering support and commitment, to our team for their dedication and hard work throughout the past four years, and to the regulators for their professional advice and guidance. I would also like to thank the organizers of the World Islamic Banking Conference for providing this useful platform in the Kingdom of Bahrain for the past 18 years."

The WIBC 2011 Outstanding Contribution to the Islamic Finance Industry Award – an award which recognizes outstanding contributions made by an institution towards the overall development of the global Islamic finance industry and significantly contributing towards shaping the future of the Islamic finance industry was awarded to International Islamic Financial Market (IIFM). The award was presented to IIFM in recognition of contributions made by IIFM in shaping and crystallizing the common vision for the development of the global Islamic financial services industry. Ijlal Ahmed Alvi, Chief Executive Officer of IIFM collected the award on behalf of IIFM. Mr. Alvi said that "IIFM is delighted to be a recipient of the prestigious WIBC Outstanding Contribution to the Islamic Finance Industry Award for 2011. This award is a recognition of our commitment to the development, promotion and integration of the Islamic financial services industry across geographies. It also highlights our efforts in the advancement and unification of Islamic financial documentation, products and related processes for the global Islamic banking and finance industry, and is a result of the hard work, commitment and support by IIFM Board of Directors, Shari'ah Advisory Panel, Members, Working Committees and IIFM team to achieve these goals."

A special WIBC Thought Leadership Award was presented to Ernst & Young in recognition of the contribution made by Ernst & Young and their world renowned Islamic Financial Services Group towards responding to the needs of both Islamic and conventional financial institutions requiring Islamic financial advisory services across the entire spectrum of Islamic finance including banking, capital markets, insurance/takaful, asset management, regulatory and government matters.

Ernst & Young has also developed a series of annual industry reports covering Takaful, Islamic Funds, Islamic Asset Management, Islamic Investments and Islamic Banking which have over the years established themselves as industry benchmarks and critical reference resources for key leaders and industry practitioners. Receiving the award Noor Abid, Managing Partner, Assurance, Ernst & Young Middle East and North Africa said that "we are delighted to have been recognized as the thought leaders in Islamic banking. The new thinking and thought leadership presented by our global Islamic finance center of excellence is a central part of our commitment to help our clients address the business issues inherent to their sector. Our global Islamic finance team will continue to work closely with our financial institution clients to help them identify new opportunities and grow their businesses."

In a statement issued by Ernst & Young, Ashar Nazim, Senior Director, MENA Leader for Islamic Finance said that "our clients agree that financial markets are evolving in a fundamental way. More than ever before, the Islamic banking industry is expected to rise to the challenges posed by global economic shifts. This can only be achieved by focusing on the Shari'a differentiation and through an original approach to addressing financial market issues."

The awards ceremony was facilitated by Nadine Hani, Senior Business News Presenter, Al-Arabiya News Channel.