Kuwait – 22 August 2016: Gulf Bank today announced it has been awarded the prestigious ‘Straight Through Processing Excellence’ Award 2015 from Citibank for the Bank’s 95% + commercial payments STP rate. This is the fifth consecutive year that Gulf Bank receives this award.

Straight Through Processing (STP) is the full automation of a payment transactions by which financial institutions receive and process a payment by an electronic system without the requirement of any manual intervention. This automated process increases the efficiency and eliminates any delay in execution of payments.

The award was received by Mr. Khaled Al-Mutawa, General Manager – International Banking and Investments; Ms. Maab Al Qassem, Executive Manager – International Banking & Investments; and Mr. Bader Al Ali, Assistant General Manager – Operations. It was presented by a team of Citibank representatives that included Mr. Mohamed A. Al-Hammadi – Vice President - Correspondent Banking Group Middle East - Treasury and Trade Solutions and Mr. Mohannad Barakat - Head of Transaction Banking – Kuwait.

Receiving the award on behalf of the Bank, Mr Al-Mutawa said: “We are honored to receive this award and proud to be recognized by such a renowned financial institution as Citibank. Receiving this award is acknowledgment for being one of the top correspondent banks and it reinforces our reputation as a market leader in operations and service quality.”