Bank of Valletta has just been awarded the Financial Innovation Award for 2008, one of the most prestigious annual awards organised by the ifs School of Finance in UK for the financial services industry.

Present at the Annual Awards Ceremony in London on Wednesday, Bank of Valletta was declared winner of the Most Effective Customer Segmentation Strategy Award highlighting the Bank’s focus towards continuously growing the relationship with its customers.

The panel of judges commented that within the closely-fought group, Bank of Valletta emerged as winner on the basis that its model is the one most closely aligned to the strategic values of the project, making remarkable use of management information and resulting in maximal customer impact, making the customer feel valued when transacting business with the Bank. The other four short listed nominees were from Coutts & Co, HSBC Bank, LTSB Asset Finance and Stroud & Swindon Building Society.

Commenting about the award, Bank of Valletta showed its pride in receiving this award, which highlights the forward-looking spirit of the Bank. In fact, the Bank takes a market-driven approach to promote long-term relationships with its customers as well as builds brand new relationships basing its model on different customer-value propositions designed to promote loyalty. The award also compliments the recognition that other foreign institutions are giving the Bank and gives credit to the sterling work carried out by its employees to improve the experience offered to its customers. The award is also supplemented by the success achieved in the first phase of the project implementation, during which period, the Bank also managed to secure 100 per cent customer retention.

Chris Ray, Director of Marketing, Events and Alumni at the ifs School of Finance, said: “This year marks the eleventh anniversary of the Financial Innovation Awards, their longevity just one mark of their tremendous success in becoming firmly established as the leading awards for the financial services industry.

Our rigorous and objective judging process coupled with the fact that we received a record number of entries from organisations in the UK, Europe, the Americas and Australia, means that any organisation that has won an award has truly excelled against global competition.

Our congratulations therefore go to Bank of Valletta for their tremendous success in winning this award, a real hallmark of success.”

Entries for the Financial Innovation Award are received from numerous world-renowned financial organisations, with finalists chosen following a rigorous selection process. The few financial institutions that are given the Awards have the prestige of being distinguished and recognised amongst the best within the industry.