City Bank won the prestigious ‘Strongest Bank in Bangladesh – 2010’ award, along with its CEO K Mahmood Sattar who won the ‘Leadership Achievement Award 2010’ at a gala award ceremony titled "The QFC – Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Award and Strongest Banks in Asia Awards 2010" held in Singapore recently.

Established in 2001, The Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Award is given out every 3 years. It is widely acknowledged in the Asia Pacific and Gulf regions today as the highest possible accolade of its kind for the individual and institutional achievements in the banking industry. It is one of the most difficult and most exclusive awards for any top banker or the bank to win because of its stringent evaluation process and selection criteria.

The citations of the award state that the council of advisors, chaired by David Eldon, former Chairman of HSBC-Asia Pacific, recognised the pivotal role of City Bank MD & CEO K Mahmood Sattar in not only driving one of Bangladesh’s best-performing banks, but also in helping to build a strong presence in the retail and SME banking space. It noted his ambitious moves into the remittance business, and also his drive to broaden the Bank’s customer base while lowering NPLs. The council then recognized that as a result of Mr K Mahmood Sattar’s leadership, The City Bank meets all their stringent criteria and qualifies for the Strongest Bank in the Country -2010 award.

The "Strongest bank in Bangladesh" award for City Bank was also predicted on the following qualities: 1) a superior domestic franchise; 2) strong commitment to domestic customers at the product and service levels; 3) strong governance structure at both the Board and Management level; 4) the ability to execute on strategy and respond to changes in the market; 5) leading towards a stable and long-term commitment to all shareholders.

The awards were received by City Bank Chairman Aziz Al Kaiser and MD & CEO K Mahmood Sattar.