Euromoney names ABA the Best Bank in Cambodia 2017

ABA Bank, member of National Bank of Canada Group, has been named the “Best Bank in Cambodia 2017” by the world-known financial magazine Euromoney. The award becomes the fourth consecutive trophy of ABA Bank from this respectable publication.

This year, Euromoney’s recognition of ABA as the Best Bank in Cambodia is based on the Bank's progress in the enhancement of its operations, outstanding growth of its branch network over the year, as well as continuous commitment to raising the standards of customer experience through its digital banking strategy. Together, these enable the bank to serve its diverse and continually expanding customer base quickly and efficiently.

Commenting on the award, Mr. Askhat Azhikhanov, CEO of ABA Bank said, “We are honored to receive such international recognition from Euromoney for the fourth time in a row. I would like to express my gratitude to our clients for their trust and to our colleagues for their commitment. At ABA, we aspire to be the preferred long-term partner to our clients, and a contributor to sustainable development of Cambodian economy. And this award reflects the strength of our diversified business model in helping us to achieve this objective.”

In its write-up about ABA Bank's award Euromoney said, “Having reached a period of great momentum in recent years, ABA’s numbers are extremely good, tied to Cambodia’s economic growth. ABA’s net profit increased by 81.4% year on year in 2016, while total assets crossed $1 billion, with 63% growth in the loan portfolio and 31% in deposits. All of this has been achieved with 25% return on equity. It is a little surprise that ABA has been pushing technological development in Cambodian banking. Its Smart Banking platform has been improved and its mobile banking app is the most popular in the country.”

The selection criteria for Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence are based on the 12-month performance and submitted by the banks in each participating country. Euromoney uses this information to create a shortlist of each country’s three leading banks, and an editorial panel of judges then chooses the winner. Following its tradition, the celebration for the South-East Asian regional winners this year was held at Hong Kong's luxurious Shangri-La Hotel on July 13 as part of the annual Awards for Excellence gala-dinner.

Over the last few years, ABA Bank has won abundant prestigious awards from several international financial publications. Thus, The Banker magazine named ABA the “Bank of the Year” in Cambodia in 2014 and 2016. In addition, ABA also won the “Best Bank in Cambodia” title from Global Finance magazine for three consecutive years in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

_{About Euromoney's Awards for Excellence:
For almost 50 years, Euromoney has been the leading publication for covering the growth of international finance. Over the past 12 months its coverage has included interviews with close to 100 bank CEOs, ministers of finance and central bank governors around the world. Euromoney's Awards for Excellence are the awards that matter to the banks and bankers who matter. They were established in 1992 and were the first of their kind in the global banking industry. This year Euromoney received almost 1,500 submissions from banks in an awards programme that covers 20 global awards, more than 50 regional awards, and best bank awards in close to 100 countries.}