National Commercial Bank CEO Abdulkareem Abu Alnasr (left)receives the award from the governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain. JEDDAH: The National Commercial Bank Chief Executive Officer Abdulkareem Abu Alnasr has been named Islamic Banker of the Year 2010 at the world's largest gathering of Islamic finance leaders in Bahrain. The World Islamic Banking Conference (WIBC) is one of the oldest and most prestigious events in the Middle East and this year was convened under the patronage of the Prime Minister of Bahrain. Abdulkareem Abu Alnasr received the award from the Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain in recognition of NCB's strong leadership and commitment to Islamic banking. Voted Islamic Banker of the Year 2010 by a select group of fellow executive leaders drawn from the Islamic banking and finance industry, the award is audited by and based on criteria developed in collaboration with Ernst & Young. It recognizes the key individual whose efforts have contributed significantly to the promotion and development of Islamic banking and finance during 2010. A leader in the provision of Islamic investment products, NCB launched the world's first Shariah-compliant real estate fund and was the first Saudi bank to provide its clients with a wide range of Shariah-compliant funds. As a result, it is today the Kingdom's largest Shariah-compliant fund business and the world's undisputed largest Shariah-compliant asset manager. In addition, NCB developed and offers the first and largest listed Shariah-equity fund in the world. However, it is the performance of its core retail and corporate business in 2010 that has contributed to a significant drive in NCB's Islamic banking status. Commenting on the achievement, Abdulkareem Abu Alnasr said: “The robust growth in our retail business is directly connected to our Islamic banking offering and we remain one of the leading providers of Shariah-compliant products to customers.” He added that “a major contributor in 2010 has been our significant expansion in corporate banking. We have established ourselves as the number one provider of project finance in the Gulf region. Our support of key projects, as part of the Saudi government's $400 billion stimulus package over 5 years, has seen NCB win some lucrative mandates.” He further said “NCB ranked number one in financing various projects in the Middle East area, according to a specialized industry rating by Deal Logic magazine. The overwhelming majority of the big project finance deals secured by NCB have been Shariah-compliant and this is a source of great pride and achievement for us.”
