Barwa Bank Group, Qatar's fastest growing Shari'ah compliant banking service provider, has been named the winner of Banker Middle East Product Awards 2013, for both Best Branch Design and Best Premium Islamic Card for a Platinum Credit Card. Barwa Bank received the awards from CPI Financial on Monday 22nd April at the Barwa Bank Headquarters. Attending from Barwa Bank were Mr. Steve Troop, CEO, Barwa Bank and Mr. Hussain Al Abdullah, Head of Retail Banking. This is the 6th awards program held by CPI Financial, publishers of Banker Middle East, to recognise banking products and services that are either exceptionally innovative or have generated excellent financial results and growth in market share. Mr. Troop commented on the achievement, “Winning the Best Branch Design and Best Premium Islamic Card awards are notable achievements and we are pleased that the Banker Middle East Product Awards have recognised our efforts in maintaining high-quality, value-oriented products and services. This distinction will definitely add more momentum to the further expansion of our activities and enable more clients to enjoy Barwa Bank's high quality products and services tailored to specific customer groups." Mr Al-Abdullah later spoke about winning the award for Best Premium Islamic Card, “We offer the premium card to our customers with an inbuilt loyalty program, a unique fee based model and a host of high net worth individual benefits associated with it. As the fastest growing Shari'ah compliant bank in Qatar, we have been working tirelessly to give our customers a new Shari'ah compliant experience, unseen in the market to date - one that provides innovative products and first class service, while at the same time being aligned with our customers' ethical beliefs. We are the only bank in Qatar offering an Islamic Premium Credit Card, a good example of how we are delivering on our vision". Barwa Bank was the first to launch Qatar's first Shari'ah compliant credit card that enables customers to earn Barwa Bank Loyalty Points that can then be converted to Qatar Airways Privilege Club Qmiles - reward miles as part of the airline's passenger loyalty programme. The Islamic fee-based credit card has been carefully developed with Islamic financial expertise, to ensure that the product is within the guidelines of Islamic finance and is 100% Shari'ah compliant. Passengers can use Qmiles to avail award tickets with Qatar Airways to fly to more than 100 destinations worldwide. One Barwa Bank loyalty point is equivalent to one Qatar Airways Privilege Club Qmile. The credit card is available in a choice of Platinum and Gold. On becoming a Platinum member customers receive a bonus of 5,000 Barwa Bank Loyalty Points that can be converted to 5,000 Qmiles. In addition, it has no joining or annual fee, up to two free supplementary cards, cash withdrawal up to 100% of the total assigned credit limit as well as free SMS alert service for all transactions. In addition, customers can choose to pay either the full monthly balance every month or just a minimum payment as low as 3%. Barwa Bank offers wide range of retail products and investments and has four strategically located branches to serve Barwa Bank's elite customers, as well as a wide network of more than 40 ATMs located all across Qatar. Customers can access their accounts from the convenience of their office or home through the state-of–the-art online banking as well as 24/7 Call Centre.
