Best bank - Mashreq Bank
Best local partner - National Bank of Dubai and National Bank of Abu Dhabi
Best debt house - HSBC
Over the past year Mashreq Bank's loan growth was a remarkable 20%. It managed this while maintaining good loan portfolio quality and steadily increasing profits. It has broadened its business base to take on cash management and more retail services to complement its strengths in corporate and consumer banking, trade finance and foreign exchange trading. It also has a leading edge in technology and its internal systems and processes are widely considered the best in the UAE. Mashreq's financial strength and political independence helped it to play a leading role in the big syndicated loan deals of the year.
HSBC wins the award for best debt house for its work on several innovative transactions. It was sole manager for the first ever UAE dirham-denominated bond issue by a UAE corporate, Emirates Airlines, on the Dubai Financial Market. It also worked on the sovereign's first ever bond issue, a $408 million domestic bond. HSBC devised a cutting-edge Islamic finance tranche for the Al Hidd project and was also sole arranger for the Oasis International Leasing Co's $52 million revolving credit facility .