The winners were honoured at an awards ceremony during the annual Retail Banking Conference in London’s Waldorf Hilton Hotel on 19th May.
The awards reflect the latest trends in the retail banking industry, and highlight pioneering initiatives that have established a strong foothold in the last year. In total, 24 awards were handed out, recognising the best achievements and innovations in the retail banking industry.
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) was the only institution to claim two awards across the categories for Best Use of Data Analytics and Best Payment Innovation. When it comes to regional award nominations, Wells Fargo scooped up the award for North American Retail Bank of the Year, while ING was recognised as European Retail Bank of the Year. Nedbank and Mashreq received the awards for African Retail Bank of the Year and Middle East Retail Bank of the Year, respectively.
This year’s awards also recognised a great number of technological advances in the retail banking industry. Touch Bank received the award for Product Innovation of the Year, while Apple Pay was nominated as the Most Disruptive Innovation.
The Editor’s special awards, presented by Douglas Blakey, Group Editor of Consumer Finance Titles at Timetric, were given to Bank of America for Global Retail Bank of the Year and Gonzalo Gortazar, CEO of Caixabank for the Retail Banker of Year. Meanwhile, Tom Blomfield , CEO of Mondo Bank received the Rising Star Banker of the Year Award.
Commenting on the awards, Blakey said:
"The Retail Banker International global annual awards were established more than 25 years ago and continue to set a benchmark for recognising world class consumer finance institutions that have set new standards in terms of innovation and outstanding performance. I want to congratulate all of the winners."
"The Awards evening concluded a thoroughly enjoyable and informative Retail Banking Forum, which along with Retail Banker International is celebrating its 35th year. Taking ‘Financial Innovation in Retail Banking: Winning Strategies’ as its theme, the conference took a retrospective and prospective look at the retail banking industry globally and explored how the forces that have shaped the last 35 years are likely to influence the future."
The 2016 Global Retail Banking Awards winners are:
African Retail Bank of the Year
Nedbank
North American Retail Bank of the Year
Wells Fargo
European Retail Bank of the Year
ING
Middle East Retail Bank of the Year
Mashreq
Latin American Retail Bank of the Year
Bradesco
Asia Pacific Retail Bank of the Year
DBS
Best Branch Strategy
Bank of Ireland
Best Use of Online Banking
Sacombank
Best Mobile Banking Strategy
Caixabank
Best Payment Innovation
RBC
Best Use of Digital Marketing and Social Media
State Bank of India
Best Use of Data Analytics
RBC
Best Customer Facing Technology
Alior
Best Digital Strategy
Scotiabank International
Best IT Transformation
Santander Poland
IT Innovation of the Year
RBS (DigiDocs) with Vizolution
Product Innovation of the Year
Touch Bank
Most Disruptive Innovation of the Year
Apple Pay
Best Non-Bank Competitor
Alipay
Retail Banking Launch of the Year
Number 26
Retail Banking Security Innovation of the Year
Nationwide
Global Retail Bank of the Year
Bank of America
Retail Banker of the Year
Gonzalo Gortaza, Caixabank
Rising Star Banker of the Year
Tom Blomfield, Mondo
