Kuwait- January 21, 2014: Gulf Bank announced that it has recently been awarded the ‘Best Customer Experience Overall Branch in Kuwait’ award from Ethos Integrated Solutions (Ethos) at the 10th Annual Customer Experience Benchmarking Index (CEBI) for retail banks and exchange houses throughout the GCC.

The CEBI award is based on research conducted between May and November 2014. It is considered to be the most extensive customer experience benchmarking study in the GCC, this year benchmarking 63 of the GCC’s retail banks across three delivery channels, namely branches, call- centres and online. The purpose of the study is to provide the GCC banking industry with service quality market intelligence. The GCC banking industry is highly competitive and a great customer experience can dramatically improve customer loyalty as well as serve as a magnet for new customers, making a customer service orientated culture a very powerful tool.

Vikram Issar, General Manager, Consumer Banking at Gulf Bank, said: “We are very honored to have won this award as it helps to reinforce the Bank’s position as a leader in the Kuwait market. We have worked hard to build a reputation for excellent customer service and we are proud of what we have achieved to date but we also know we can’t be complacent; we must continually seek to exceed customers’ expectations and continue to innovate and produce fresh ideas for relevant and uniquely designed financial products and services. We look forward to maintaining our commitment towards our customers with energy and enthusiasm.”

During the 2014 study, Ethos professional researchers conducted 1,260 branch visits, 756 call centre calls and 504 website interactions, providing a total of 66,276 answers of what customers are experiencing in GCC banks. Researchers focused on real life scenarios of a prospective customer using the bank services, evaluating four key variables of service provision, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.

Gulf Bank continually seeks to be innovative, to raise standards, and to set the benchmark for banking service excellence in the region. The Bank is frequently honored with prestigious awards and accolades’, most recently, ‘Bank of the Year’ award from Arabian Business, ‘Best Retail Bank in Kuwait’ award from International Finance Magazine, the ‘Best Domestic Payments and Cash Management Bank in Kuwait’ by Asian Banker, ‘Best Domestic Retail Bank’ and ‘Best Human Resources Development’ awards for 2014 from Banker Middle East, ‘HR Professional of the Year’ award for the private sector at the 6th Annual MENA HR Excellence Awards and STP Award from Citibank.

Ethos developed the CEBI in 2005 to provide the retail banking industry with a way of benchmarking its products and services to drive continual improvement. Over the years, the study has developed into a strategic benchmarking tool and has enabled banks to dramatically improve their service provision.

To find out more about Gulf Bank’s awards, or any of its products and services, visit one of the Bank’s 59 branches, contact the Customer Contact Centre on 1805805 for assistance and guidance, or go to www.e-gulfbank.com, Gulf Bank’s website bilingual website.