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| Best bank in the Middle East | QNB |
| Best investment bank in the Middle East | HSBC |
| Best M&A house in the Middle East | Goldman Sachs |
| Best equity house in the Middle East | Barclays |
| Best debt house in the Middle East | HSBC |
| Best transaction services house in the Middle East | Standard Chartered |
| Outstanding contribution to financial services in the Middle East | Nemeh Sabbagh, CEO, Arab Bank |
| Country Awards for Excellence 2014: Middle East | |
| Photos from the Awards Ceremony | |
Best bank in the Middle East
This is no longer a straightforward award to give. There are at least five homegrown houses that can make a good case to be the best in the region.
There are two models to consider: the truly regional bank, for which the clear majority of business takes place outside the home base, and those banks that have grown across the region from a position of domestic dominance in an important market. In the first category come Arab Bank, headquartered in Jordan, and Ahli United Bank, in Bahrain; in the latter, Kuwait’s NBK, QNB, and to an extent Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi and (certainly one to watch for the future as Alex Thursby’s west-east strategy gets under way) National Bank of Abu Dhabi.