AB+F Awards 2010 winners announced
The best of Australia’s banking and finance sector were honoured at the 20th annual AB+F Awards in Sydney last night. These are Australia’s premier retail financial services awards, covering all aspects of the retail banking industry, with winners chosen by an independent panel of senior industry professionals.
The gala ceremony at the Ivy, sponsored by Optus Business, was attended by around 500 people from the Australian banking and finance industry.
What was notable this year is that the awards were not a matter of last one standing is the winner, with many categories keenly contested by well-qualified institutions and individuals. Innovation and entrepreneurship were clearly in evidence, with industry players large and small being recognised.
However, as if to prove that in the current environment, size still does matter, the
Commonwealth Bank of Australia was named the Australian Financial Institution of the Year, and its chief executive officer,
Ralph Norris was named the Financial Services Executive of the year. And to emphasise how important the banking technology arms race has become, Norris’s fellow C-suiter, Michael Harte, took away the Chief Information Officer of the Year award.
Australia’s largest credit union,
CUA, and the largest building society,
Heritage, also won their respective categories.
Among the other award winners was ANZ’s controversial, tongue in cheek Transparency Campaign, the series of TV commercials featuring the aggressively unhelpful ‘Barbara the bank manager from A Bank’, played by comic actress Genevieve Morris.
Keynote speaker at the event was Mark Johnson, chairman of the Australian Financial Centre Forum.
Andrew Stabback, managing director of Australian Financial Publications, publisher of AB+F magazine, said the level of industry support he had received for the awards was a clear sign that Australian banking and finance sector has held up well compared to its international peers during the financial crisis.
“The awards have demonstrated that a genuine commitment to investment in people, technology and reform that delivers best customer experience is a winning formula,” Mr Stabback said.
“The Australian banking and finance industry must continue to invest in reform that will deliver benefits to customers to consolidate the hard won gains of the past couple of years of global banking volatility.”
The format of the awards followed last year’s, with a panel of experts to assess and judge the nominations. The five judges were: Dr Martin Fahy, chief executive of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia); Paul Fegan, non executive director of AMP Ltd and former CEO and MD of St George Bank; John Loebenstein, former group executive, information technology and chief information officer at St George Bank; Hugh Harley, financial services leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers; Brian Johnson, head of Australian banks research, CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets.
The full list of winners follows:
Financial Services Executive of the Year – Ralph Norris, Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Australian Financial Institution of the Year (Retail) – Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Chief Financial Officer of the Year – Greg Ward, Macquarie Group
Chief Information Officer of the Year - Michael Harte, Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Credit Union of the Year- CUA
Building Society of the Year – Heritage Building Society
Innovative Mortgage Product of the Year - Aussie Classic
Advertising/Marketing/Promotional Campaign of the Year – ANZ’s Transparency Campaign (“Barbara”)
Mortgage Broker of the Year- Aussie
Innovative Card and Payment Product of the Year - The University of Sydney Student Campus Card, ANZ
Innovative Retail Banking Product of the Year - St George/BankSA SENSE
Banking Website/Online Banking Offering of the Year - Macquarie Bank’s Macquarie Edge
Best Career Development Programme – CommLeader, Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Banking Ambassador Award - David Bell, former Chief Executive Officer, Australian Bankers’ Association
For detailed coverage of the 20th annual AB+F Awards don’t miss the June edition of AB+F magazine, out soon.
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- admin, online@financialpublications.com.au
- Article Posted:
- June 04, 2010
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