March 18th, 2016 BIBD was named the Best Retail Bank in Brunei for the year 2016 by The Asian Banker (TAB), retaining the prestigious accolade for a fourth consecutive year from the region's leading financial services research, benchmarking and intelligence consultancy.

The awards ceremony took place at TAB's Annual Excellence in Retail Financial Services Convention, held recently at the W Hotel in Hong Kong. Present to receive the momentous award on behalf of BIBD was Hjh Nurul Akmar binti Haji Mohd Jaafar, Deputy Head of Retail Banking.

Commenting on the award, BIBD Managing Director Mr Mubashar Khokhar stated that BIBD is thankful to the government of Brunei Darussalam for their conducive policies, BIBD customers for their patronage, and BIBD staff for their exemplary service. At the same time BIBD is both honoured and humbled to be recognized as the best retail bank in Brunei for the fourth year running. This landmark serves as a testament for all the efforts in place towards becoming the first choice for our customers.

He also noted that the award serves as a reminder for us to ensure that we continue delivering the best banking experience for our customers, to help them achieve their own aspirations.

The Asian Banker stated that BIBD was commended on BIBD's increasing share in consumer finance despite a challenging market. Despite the downward trend in overall profitability of the banking system, assets, and deposits in Brunei, BIBD still found room to grow, while maintaining a lower delinquency ratio compared to its peers. This resulted to double-digit growth in retail assets, and improvement in profit and revenue.

The statement also mentioned BIBD's ability in proving its ability to be the consumers bank of choice which included positive feedback from its customers. Among all the banks in Brunei, BIBD has consistently ranked high in customer satisfaction surveys. Among the upgrades the bank has implemented is its Branch Digital Platform, a one-stop solution for deposit products with paperless format as well as straight-through processing with automated disbursement.

About 200 senior bankers from award-winning banks in 29 countries across the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa attended the event that recognised their efforts in bringing superior products and services to their customers. The awards programme, administered by TAB and refereed by prominent global bankers, consultants and academics, is the most prestigious of its kind.

A stringent evaluation process across three months based on a balanced and transparent scorecard determines the winners of The Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards, and the positions of various retail banks in the region.