Kuwait-19 May 2011: Gulf Bank today announced that its Chief Information Officer (CIO) Mr. Husain Mairza received the 'Thought Leader Excellence' Award at the MENA CIO?s Summit 2011, which took place in Qatar on May 3rd 2011. The award was made following Mr. Husain's highly appreciated presentation on 'Running IT like a Business'. The presentation described the implementation of a business-oriented IT operating model, which is currently being implemented in Gulf Bank's IT department following an overhaul of the previous model of service delivery. Commenting on this occasion, Mr. Husain Mairza said:"The team's hard work, remarkable performance and commitment is motivated by the support gained within Gulf Bank. I am very proud to receive the ?Thought Leader Excellence? Award and I will continue to seek new and innovative ways to achieve high recognition on behalf of Gulf Bank. "

"At Gulf Bank, we have recognized the importance of nurturing the IT and business relationship into a true business partnership. We recognized that transforming IT from a functional base into a service base was essential to better serve our customers, and this will occur through our customer feedback and strong governance. The Bank continues to offer its customers the most innovative banking solutions as well as enhancing their daily banking experience," added Mairza. The Conceptual Business-oriented IT Operating model is used to focus on key IT Business Service Leaders as the sole gateway for streamlining business requirements. It encourages working collaboratively with the Business representatives, as well as with IT back-bone units such as IT Operations, Project Management Office, IT Security, and Quality Assurance departments to provide solutions for requirements requested by all business units bank wide.

The MENA CIO's Summit, which is held regularly, brings together Chief information Officers and senior executives from around the region to put together strategies on how to create value for banking or corporate entities through information technology. The summit provides a number of different channels to execute and promote business through one-on-one business meetings and focused interactive workshops. Today's announcement follows a number of other major awards which Gulf Bank has recently received for the excellence of it services during 2010 and 2011. These include the 'International Excellence in Retail Financial Services' award from The Asian Banker, the '2010 Deutsche Bank EUR STP Excellence' award for its exceptional quality of payment messages, 'Best Retail Bank' award for superior customer service and innovation in retail banking from The Banker Middle East, 'Best Contact & Service Center', 'Best Public Relations Campaign for Corporate Social Responsibility' from The Banker Middle East, 'Best New Product' for the innovative Al Danah account from The Banker Middle East, 'Best Employer' award in the GCC at the GCC Human Resource Excellence Awards, the Localization Award from the GCC Council of Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs for the sixth consecutive year, and 'Best Loyalty Program? award and 'Best Customer Interactivity' award at the second annual competition for 'Banking Web' awards.