Baiduri Bank won the acclaimed ‘Bank of The Year 2022’ award from The Banker, one of the world’s leading publications by Financial Times, UK. This marks the fifth international banking award this year for the Bank. It is also the 15th time that the Bank received this prestigious accolade, reinforcing the Bank’s position as an industry leader and a dynamic institution at the forefront of financial innovation.

According to The Banker magazine: “Brunei’s Baiduri Bank has won the Bank of the Year award on the back of sound fundamentals. In 2021, it recorded net profits of BND58.5m, while its cost-to-income ratio improved and now sits below 50%, following initiatives to improve efficiency.”

The Banker also lauded Baiduri Bank for its strong commitment to building a sustainable future for the nation. “Baiduri has focused on building up its environmental, social and governance credentials, as well as becoming actively involved in supporting the local community.”

Speaking about the award, Ti Eng Hui, Chief Executive Officer of Baiduri Bank said it was a strong testament to the Bank’s sound business model and strategy, as well as the fortitude of its employees.

He said, “I’m very proud that we have been recognised as Bank of The Year for Brunei, and I would like to thank our customers and business partners for all their support through a very challenging period during the pandemic. It is indeed an honour to receive this award that is widely regarded as the industry standard for banking excellence.

“The past two years have been very challenging for us, as it has been for the whole economy. However, we have proven to be resilient during this turbulent time, and I credit a large part of our success to our employees, who have worked tirelessly to serve our customers and adjusting to demanding situations.”

According to The Banker magazine, the Bank received the award due to the several initiatives it has achieved across the year that affected not just the customer and financial aspects, but also making a mark in the community. This included the Bank’s partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports on the creation of ‘Mengalinga’ a mobile app for volunteers, the Leadership Academy that was launched late last year to enable employees to self-direct their learning and development paths, as well as the Bank’s strong employee engagement strategies, such as the Employee Wellness Initiative and its Baiduri Cares employee volunteering platform.

The award marks yet another feather in the Bank’s illustrious cap in what has been a landmark year. On top of the ‘Bank of the Year’ award from The Banker, Baiduri Bank also achieved these awards in 2022:

1. The Best Bank in Asia-Pacific for Brunei 2022 by Global Finance for the seventh time.
2. Best Banking Group for Brunei 2022 by World Finance for the fourteenth time.
3. The Domestic Retail Bank of the Year for Brunei for the tenth consecutive year.
4. Best Bank in Brunei 2022 by Euromoney – marking the first time any bank in Brunei was recognised at the esteemed Euromoney Awards for Excellence.

On top of that, the Bank’s subsidiary Baiduri Finance was named Finance Company of the Year for Brunei during the Asian Banking & Finance Retail Banking Awards 2022.

Other notable milestones for the Bank this year include its upgraded rating of A-/A-2 with Stable Outlook in June 2022 from Standard & Poor’s from a rating of BBB+/A-2, launch of the all-new Baiduri b.Digital Business platform as well as the Bank’s first ATM in Temburong, officially rounding up its presence in all four districts in Brunei.

More recently, the Bank signed an agreement with Temenos, the world’s leading open platform for composable banking, for running Baiduri Bank’s core banking services on a SaaS platform in the cloud.

With this move, Baiduri Bank will be the first bank in Brunei to operate its core banking platform in the cloud under the SaaS model, and will be the culmination of the Bank’s digital transformation journey to leverage technology to elevate operational efficiency, analytical capabilities and customer experience.