Award Winners 2023 | Brands Insight Magazine

Brands Insight Magazine - Award Winners 2024

Trading.md BizWorld Magazine Award Winner

"Leading Web & Software Development Ukraine" KEEN.ETHICS

Keen.Ethics has been selected by the Judges of Business World Magazine's Annual Awards to be a recipient of the Top Brands in Innovation Awards. This selection follows a stringent process that evaluated over 40,000 nominees to select the exclusive list of 100 winners.

KeenEthics is an ethical web and mobile development partner based in Eastern Europe and represented in Germany, the Netherlands and the United States.
In 2015, Max Savonin, CEO, and Alex Pletnov, CTO, gathered a keen team to make an impact on the software industry.

The goal of KeenEthics has always been to make the tech world play ethically and work for the social good. Since then, 50+ companies have turned their ideas into lucrative products with keenEthics. Moreover, in a year, They have started their first fully funded social project Let Kids Move. Keen.Ethics always welcome partners to join us in our mission for more successful social and commercial projects.

What Difference Do Keen.Ecthics Offer?

Quality with strike force
you can hire a team of our best senior developers called Strike Force for a perfect start to your project. within a month they will set up the development environment, major development process and project architecture. Afterward, we suggest switching most of the team members to join your Mid-level developers, while senior developers stay as consultants. This way, you can have a more affordable project with the perfect quality set from the start.

UX audit
Our UX audit shows you what upsets your users and holds back the success of your solution. This approach is the best way to cut the development expenses and improve your ROI in the long run. In the UX audit, we analyze the design of your solution to improve the user flows. At the same time, we eliminate the pain points of your users as well as improper design practices.

Security
You can employ our escrow partner as a middleman securing your costs. Before we start development, we may agree on the terms upon which the escrow agent releases your payment to us. To calculate your approximate escrow expenses please visit our partner's website. With a minimal escrow fee, you can sleep well knowing you pay only for the job done properly.

Motivated team
When working with KeenEthics, you hire a keen team of dedicated developers. Our Mental Health Officer monitors closely the mental state of each employee to ensure happiness, motivation, and loyalty. With our employee satisfaction checkups, we ensure low employee turnover and no associated project delays.

Team work hand-in-hand to deliver robust software solutions to our business partners. This is our corporate culture, and we want you to be a part of it!

www.keenethics.com

“Leading Digital Travel Insurance Provider UK" WORLD WIDE INTERNET INSURANCE SERVICES

World Wide Internet Insurance Services (WWIIS) has been selected by the Judges of Business World Magazine's Annual Awards to be a recipient of the Top Brands in Innovation Awards. This selection follows a stringent process that evaluated over 40,000 nominees to select the exclusive list of 100 winners.

World Wide Internet Insurance Services (WWIIS) is a development and branding of online travel insurance platforms, including marketing & conversion.

World Wide Internet Insurance Services (WWIIS) are Insurance intermediaries licensed in Gibraltar by the Financial Services Commission. They were established in 2001 and have provided great value products to millions of UK customers.

WWIIS has unparalleled expertise in providing tailored insurance solutions to consumers and businesses backed by one of the most experienced executive teams in the UK Travel Insurance industry. WWIIS speciality is the online distribution of great value travel insurance products.

Innovation

As a leading Insurtech company, World Wide Internet Insurance Services are innovative from the ground up; from their industry-first loyalty scheme which rewards WWIIS customers, to their market-leading in-house technology and data analysis capabilities.

Recognition
Alongside World Wide Internet Insurance Services many awards include Leading Digital Travel Insurance Provider, Best Travel Insurance Provider, Best Claims Service, Best Customer Service, and WWIIS recognition in almost all mainstream media, as highlighted below, World Wide Internet Insurance Services

also maintains an average Trust Score of 4.7/5 with Trustpilot from over 15,000 independent customer reviews.

Reliability
World Wide Internet Insurance Services design, build and operate all our systems allowing us to ensure the availability and security of our platform while also allowing us to rapidly respond to changes in market conditions. WWIIS insured over 8 million customers using our platform.

Service
WWIIS takes service seriously, all our customer service agents undertake at least three months of training including obtaining a Foundation Insurance Test from the Chartered Insurance Institute with most moving on to obtain a Certificate in Insurance.

World Wide Internet Insurance Services, CEO
With a wealth of experience, we bring a new perspective to insurance broking. We harness technology, which we design and build, to provide detailed insights into the risks that we handle for our underwriters. At the same time, we bring new thinking to the term "Customer Loyalty" where we combine exceptional customer service with tangible rewards for our clients. Our people are our assets and our assets are brilliant, they bring dedication and enthusiasm into the office daily!
www.wwiis.com

ALAN D SCHNITZER - CEO OF TRAVELERS COMPANIES INC. - INTERVIEW WITH BUSINESSWORLD MAGAZINE

Alan D Schnitzer became CEO and a member of the company’s Board of Directors in 2015, and was elected Chairman of the Board in 2017. He joined Travelers in April 2007 as Vice Chairman and Chief Legal Officer. He then went on to lead the company’s Financial, Professional and International Insurance segment and subsequently the company’s Business and International Insurance segment. He also oversaw Travelers’ Field Management, Corporate Communications and Public Policy organizations. Before joining Travelers, Schnitzer served as the company’s lead outside counsel as a partner in the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where he advised corporate clients on a variety of transactions and general corporate law matters. Schnitzer is a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and serves on the Board of Directors of New York City Ballet and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Schnitzer earned his undergraduate degree in finance and accounting from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Columbia Law School.

COMPANY BRIEF

Travelers (travelers.com) has been around for more than 160 years and has earned a reputation as one of the best property casualty insurers in the industry. It is a leader in personal, business and specialty insurance and the only property casualty company in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Its approximately 30,000 employees and 13,500 independent agents and brokers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland help provide its customers with both peace of mind and the confidence to reach higher and do more.

What have been the keys to Travelers’ consistent leadership in the industry and how do you define Travelers’ advantage?

Our formidable competitive advantages are the foundation of our success: talent and tenure; data and analytics; product breadth and specialization; risk mitigation and improvement; distribution relationships; and claim services.

But we aren’t resting on our laurels. We’re focused on an imperative we call perform and transform. Perform means continuing to execute successfully on our long-term financial strategy, which has helped us create significant shareholder value over time. Having said that, we understand that we won’t be able to continue to perform if we don’t transform. We believe the winners in our industry will be those who can innovate successfully on top of a strong foundation like ours.

How important is innovation to Travelers?

Innovation is in our DNA. We know that we can’t afford to be complacent, and the capabilities that have fueled our achievements over the past decade will not necessarily be the same ones we’ll need for the next decade. As a consequence, we have an ambitious innovation agenda. The vision for our innovation agenda is to be the undeniable choice for the customer and an indispensable partner to our agents and brokers. To achieve that vision, we’ve established three priorities: extend our lead in risk expertise; provide great experiences for our customers, distribution partners and employees; and improve our productivity and efficiency.

This work is apparent across the company. In the past few years, we have brought our expertise to some of the leading technology platforms on the market. We partnered with Amazon to launch the insurance industry’s first digital storefront; we began managing auto claims for Lyft in the United States; and we’re digitizing virtually every aspect of our business. For example, we’re now able to adjust many claims using a customer’s smartphone and make claim payments via PayPal.

A few years ago, we created the Early Severity Predictor®, a model that uses data and analytics to predict which injured workers are most at risk for chronic pain and, therefore, opioid addiction. Since its inception in 2015, we have applied the model to nearly 65,000 injured workers, and we estimate that this has resulted in loss cost savings of more than $150 million due to a substantial reduction in opioids prescribed and surgeries performed, and a more rapid return-to-work by employees.

What impact is technology having on Travelers’ business?

Advancements in technology are helping us reimagine just about every aspect of our company, and the line between our technology organization and our businesses is blurring. We’re creating more agile teams with a broader mix of abilities and leveraging advanced technology to develop customer-oriented solutions.

We’re also partnering with the very organizations that are said to be disrupting our industry. We work with a number of insurtechs and startup accelerator programs across the country to be sure we’re not only plugged into the flow of ideas, but also helping to create the change that’s occurring.

Travelers places a major focus on diversity and inclusion. Will you highlight your efforts to build a diverse and inclusive workforce at Travelers?

Our most valuable asset is our people. It’s our job to attract and retain the very best talent in the business, and that means recruiting from the broadest possible pool of candidates. It means offering development opportunities to advance diverse leaders. It means creating an inclusive culture that encourages our people to bring their full selves to work every day.

Among other initiatives, we’ve created eight Diversity Networks within Travelers. These networks are voluntary, employee-led organizations dedicated to making Travelers an even more welcoming place to work, and they count more than 11,000 employees as members – more than a third of our total population. It’s also why last year we launched an initiative called SHE Travels as part of our commitment to be the leading advocate for women in the insurance industry.

We bring these same priorities to our work with our community and business partners. One example is our Small Business Risk Education program, which helps women, minority and veteran entrepreneurs develop a broad understanding of risk management. Our robust supplier diversity program, aimed at helping to grow businesses owned by people of diverse backgrounds, is another.

We are proud to be recognized among the best employers for veterans, the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities, and diversity overall. Having said that, we don’t do it for the recognition. We understand that for Travelers, diversity and inclusion is more than a nice-to-have – it is a business imperative.

Our North Star will always be industry-leading returns over time. For us, it comes back to driving sustained value for all our stakeholders. We make a promise to take care of our customers, communities, employees and business partners because we recognize the inextricable link between industry-leading results, on the one hand, and gratified customers and business partners, engaged employees and healthy communities, on the other. We believe that by keeping our focus on all our stakeholders, we will continue to deliver top-tier results next quarter and succeed for the next quarter century.

ABOUT

We are an insurance company that cares. Travelers takes on the risk and provides the coverage you need to protect the things that are important to you — your home, your car, your valuables and your business — so you don’t have to worry. We have been around for more than 165 years and have earned a reputation as one of the best property casualty insurers in the industry because we take care of our customers. Our expertise and focus on innovation have made us a leader in personal, business and specialty insurance and the only property casualty company in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Every day, our approximately 30,000 employees and 13,500 independent agents and brokers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland help provide peace of mind to our customers.

www.travelers.com

JEFF MILLER - PRESIDENT & CEO OF HALLIBURTON- INTERVIEW WITH BUSINESSWORLD MAGAZINE

Jeff Miller is Chairman of the Board of Directors, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Halliburton. Since joining Halliburton in 1997, Miller has served in several roles, including Chief Operating Officer, Senior Vice President of Business Development, Regional Vice President of Gulf of Mexico, and Operations Vice President of Angola and Indonesia.

Miller holds a Bachelor of Science in agriculture and business from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and a Master of Business Administration from Texas A&M University. He is a certified public accountant and a member of the Advisory Council for Texas A&M University Dwight Look College of Engineering. He also serves on the board of directors for American Petroleum Institute, Greater Houston Partnership, National Petroleum Council, and is a foundation board member for The Council on Recovery.

Jeff Miller is president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Halliburton, a position he assumed in June 2017. He has held numerous management positions with the company, including president and chief health, safety, and environment officer; executive vice president and chief operating officer; senior vice president of global business development and marketing; and senior vice president for Gulf of Mexico. He received a BS degree in agriculture and business from McNeese State University and an MBA from Texas A&M University.

We are really excited about our business in North America. We have always had significant investment in North America and as we look at the immediate future, it will be the busiest market. It is extremely impactful on many different stages.

I think that North America is going to be very resilient in a $50–55/bbl world. There is a lot of demand for North America resources and I think the speed to market is really relevant and important, particularly as demand increases. Unconventionals can fill that demand most quickly because of the timing more than anything else, which is a real advantage relative to mature fields and particularly deep water.

There is a lot of demand for what we do and I expect that we will be very busy in 2018. The sense I get from the customers is that the outlook is good at current commodity prices. We continue to reduce costs and make more barrels. And that’s how Halliburton spends most of its time—determining how to deliver the lowest cost per BOE.

I don’t think they will. The market is undersupplied today. We estimate that the market is about a million-and-a-half horsepower undersupplied for pumping equipment and I think the other services are also quite tight. Layer onto that the challenges with people and the shortages actually generate a flight to quality. One of the reasons I am confident about our business is that we have been disciplined about maintenance of our equipment and hiring people well ahead of time. That comes at a cost but the fact is there is no substitute for service quality. No substitute.

We have outperformed the market through the downturn internationally in seven of the past eight quarters. The Middle East is extremely important to us. One of the things I am most pleased with is the ability of Halliburton to focus intently on North America, but at the same time steadily grow our international footprint. The fact is, we are present in every important market around the world today. That is something we could not have said 10 years ago and maybe even 5 years ago.

Onshore North America is front and center and has the shortest return characteristics and therefore has the most activity. Next in line would be mature fields particularly in the Middle East and a few other markets around the world, and then deep water being third. Our R&D people have not changed their view at all. They are still working on how to make a deepwater well more affordable and how to make more barrels produce faster in mature fields.

I think the energy industry is in a space where we will be for some time. A band at $50–55/bbl is a really sensitive place. There are a lot of things that don’t work below $50/bbl, and a whole lot of things that work above $55/bbl. My view is that we will be in a $50–60 range for some time, meaning not lower for longer but sort of where we are for longer. I believe that is a place where operators can work profitably, and service companies can work profitably, particularly in onshore North America … which gives me a lot of confidence about 2018 and beyond. In no small way, that drives a lot of what we are working on at Halliburton. We describe our value proposition as we collaborate and engineer solutions to maximize asset value for our customers. We say it that way for a reason, because it is not new, but we believe it is perfectly suited for this sort of environment.

The industry has worked hard to wring out costs. Even at $100/bbl, companies weren’t making returns commensurate with $100/bbl oil, and some are challenged to do so at $50. What I think has happened is that we have become better at how we work together. Certainly there has been a lot of cost driven out of the system—some of that is service company pricing and, in some cases, it has to come back. Price reductions left service companies earning negative returns, which is not a sustainable environment for investment.

We feel we can best prepare ourselves by being very thoughtful about the things that we buy, things that we build, and the assets we invest in. We want to have the ability to respond the best we can to the cycles. I think those cycles in this kind of environment might be shorter than they have ever been, which means the ability to respond is more important than ever. Another key component of working in this kind of environment successfully is being very capital- and people-efficient. Certainly bespoke types of assets that have a single use that wind up underutilized for a long time become, really, a cost to the industry. The company that owns them may lose money but the reality is that it is a burden on the entire industry. So the more efficient we can be, the better—whether it is shore-based, or it is designing specs, or it is the way we better utilize assets owned by operators or others.

I have seen a few of them in my career but this one was pretty severe. I think we are working our way through it like we always do, as an industry and as a company. I feel like Halliburton has done quite well through the downturn. I will tell you, though, there is nothing worse in any executive’s career than what we have had to go through here with the layoffs. I felt terrible about that and the difficulty it caused for lots of great employees that we just simply could not continue to employ given the cost structure and in fairness to our shareholders. I also think that sort of reset drives some innovations, and processes are tighter than they have ever been and our view of assets is sharper than it has ever been. I would say we are more efficient than we have ever been.

Anything that reduces cost or makes more barrels. I know that is an oversimplification but that is really the heart of it. When we think about what is important to our customers, it has to be maximizing asset value, which translates into either things that lower cost or that make more barrels … which takes many different forms. We are investing in things that reduce cost onshore in North America, like our ExpressKinect unit that allows for faster rig up and rig down. Also, Integrated Sensor Diagnostics and how we better understand reservoirs, better understand the behavior of both the frac and well placement, even digital flowback, so that we know the real factors driving increased productivity. There is a fair amount of investment in that. We also continue to focus heavily on our production business, which includes everything from completion through the end of the life of the well. We made an acquisition recently of Summit ESP, which creates a No. 2 onshore position in North America for electric submersible pumps.

We slimmed a lot of things back, including R&D. We did it commensurate with the market. But at the same time, events like that cause you to take a really sharp view of what is most important, so I feel like in some ways we are more effective, in spite of the reductions in all parts of the business. Our R&D velocity, if we measure it in terms of patents per dollar, really competes with Siemens and United Technologies more than it does in the oilfield space. Our process for delivering R&D is extremely efficient, and I have a lot of confidence in what we are doing.

We are super excited about that. It all stems from our view of digital, which is that it has to solve a business problem and it has to make a return. We have fantastic domain expertise in oil and gas, but we don’t want to try to compete with Microsoft and others around the development of artificial intelligence tools and all of the things they do every day. Microsoft is very good in big compute, the Internet of Things, and certainly in artificial intelligence. As we look at others in that space, the other thing that Microsoft has is a terrific installed base of technology and they are also very good at working B2B. We felt from that standpoint this is a great collaborative relationship for us.

I think our customers view digital the same way that I do. At Halliburton, we are consumers of big data as well and think about big data in terms of what business problems it can solve. It is very valuable in maintenance and around people, two of our biggest cost drivers. We have done a lot to automate our equipment so that we are able to improve maintenance and predictability around performance and service quality.

When I think about our customers, their biggest value propositions lie with a better understanding of the reservoir and in understanding production behavior. When we think about that, we look at automated drilling and more informed drilling, and how all that comes together. We have tools that help clients better use data, better automate, minimize the number of people on site, and allow faster response and more uptime on the wells themselves. Pretty exciting.

www.halliburton.com

PASCAL SORIOT - CEO OF ASTRAZENECA - INTERVIEW WITH BWM TOP 100 INNOVATION CEO

PASCAL SORIOT CEO OF ASTRAZENECA HAS BEEN SELECTED BY THE JUDGES OF BUSINESS WORLD MAGAZINE'S ANNUAL AWARDS TO BE A RECIPIENT OF THE TOP 100 CEOS IN INNOVATION AWARD 2021. THIS SELECTION FOLLOWS A STRINGENT PROCESS THAT EVALUATED OVER 40,000 NOMINEES TO SELECT THE EXCLUSIVE LIST OF 100 WINNERS.

Pascal Claude Roland Soriot is the chief executive officer of the pharmaceutical multinational company AstraZeneca, since October 2012.

In April 1986, he joined Roussel Uclaf (formerly France's second largest pharmaceutical company, until bought by Hoechst AG in 1997) as a salesman in Australia. In 1996, he became General Manager of Hoechst Marion Roussel in Australia, moving to Tokyo in April 1997.

In 2000 he moved to Aventis in America, becoming chief operating officer of Aventis USA in 2002, which became Sanofi Aventis USA in 2004.

He joined Roche in 2006. From April 2009 to 2010, he was chief executive of the Roche subsidiary Genentech. He rejoined Roche Pharma AG in 2010 as chief operating officer.

Skills and experience: Pascal brings a passion for science and medicine as well as significant experience in established and emerging markets, strength of strategic thinking, a successful track record of managing change and executing strategy, and the ability to lead a diverse organisation. He served as Chief Operating Officer of Roche’s pharmaceuticals division from 2010 to September 2012 and, prior to that, Chief Executive Officer of Genentech, a biologics business, where he led its successful merger with Roche. Pascal joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1986 and has worked in senior management roles in numerous major companies around the world. He is a doctor of veterinary medicine (École Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, Maisons-Alfort) and holds an MBA from HEC, Paris.

AstraZeneca
In August 2012 he was named as the new chief executive of AstraZeneca, the world's fifth largest pharmaceutical company, when aged 53. He took up the post on 1 October 2012.

In July 2017, it was reported that Soriot would become the next CEO of Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, succeeding Erez Vigodman, though this was soon denied.

In September 2018, he made headlines commenting on his pay of £9.4m in salary and bonuses. 'The truth is I’m the lowest-paid CEO in the whole industry', he said. 'It is annoying to some extent. But at the end of the day it is what it is.'

www.astrazeneca.com

DR.THOMAS OLEMOTS CEO OF BECHTLE AG- BWM TOP 100 INNOVATION CEO

THOMAS OLEMOTS CEO OF BECHTLE AG HAS BEEN SELECTED BY THE JUDGES OF BUSINESS WORLD MAGAZINE'S ANNUAL AWARDS TO BE A RECIPIENT OF THE TOP 100 CEOS IN INNOVATION AWARDs. THIS SELECTION FOLLOWS A STRINGENT PROCESS THAT EVALUATED OVER 40,000 NOMINEES TO SELECT THE EXCLUSIVE LIST OF 100 WINNERS.

Dr. Thomas Olemots CEO of Bechtle AG, Dr. Thomas Olemotz is responsible for the departments of Finance, Controlling & Risk Management, Human Resources & People Development, IT, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations, Mergers & Acquisitions, Legal & Compliance, as well as Logistics & Service. Born in 1962 in the German state of Hesse, he is married and the father of two adult children. After completing his studies in business administration, he began his career as a research associate at the University of Gießen. Following his doctorate degree, he became the assistant to the Board of Directors of Westdeutsche Landesbank before serving as head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Mittelstandsberatung, a consultancy company for medium-sized companies and subsidiary of Deutsche Bank. He then moved to Delton AG as the head of Corporate Development before joining group-company Microlog Logistics AG as CFO. In March 2007, he became Bechtle AG’s Chief Financial Officer before becoming Spokesman of the Executive Board in January 2009 and CEO in June 2010.

The 58-year-old has been on the three-member Bechtle AG Executive Board since 2007, taking the reins in 2009. In this period, revenues at the IT company have more than quadrupled and Bechtle AG’s market value has grown more than 12-fold. “With Dr Olemotz at the helm, Bechtle AG has seen exceptional development. The contract extension only underlines the high levels of stability and continuity that set Bechtle apart and also sends a strong signal of reliability in challenging times”, says Klaus Winkler, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Bechtle AG.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the trust the Supervisory Board have placed in me and I’m looking forward to continuing to work together with Michael Guschlbauer and Jürgen Schäfer to help shape the future of Bechtle”, says Dr. Thomas Olemotz. “I’ve spent most of my working life at Bechtle, not once doubting my choice and with never a dull moment. I’m so proud of the amazing commitment of the entire Bechtle team over the past year and I’m looking forward to a thrilling, eventful, and successful future at this extraordinary company.”

Bechtle makes it a priority to be close to our customers, with 80 system houses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as e-commerce companies in 14 European countries. Whether you’re a midsized business, large corporation or public-sector organisation, you can count on us as a forward-facing partner offering a blend of direct IT product sales and extensive systems integration services. We’ll help you obtain everything you need, wherever you need it—locally, in Europe and worldwide through our IT alliance partners on every continent.
Backed by extensive experience and expertise in future-proof IT architecture, we value traditional infrastructures just as highly as current trends like digitalisation, cloud computing, modern workplace, security and IT-as-a-Service. We offer around 40,000 hardware and software products through our online shops, customer-specific e-procurement platforms and over the phone. In addition, specialists at our 96 Group-wide Competence Centres dedicate themselves to providing expert support for a broad range of complex topics.
And because we’re committed to full IT lifecycle management, our professional remarketing services ensure that used equipment is given a new lease of life. If it’s smart financing solutions you need, you’ll find them through our very own Bechtle Financial Services AG.

One Bechtle.
Bechtle ranks among Europe’s leading IT service providers and, for 38 years, has represented expertise, partnership and a forward-facing outlook. Together with our customers, we want to successfully shape the future with IT. Connected, experienced, entrepreneurial – zukunftsstark.

www.bechtle.com

METTLER TOLEDO - BWM TOP 100 INNOVATION BRANDS

METTLER TOLEDO is a global manufacturer and marketer of precision instruments for use in laboratory, industrial, and food retailing applications. The Company has strong worldwide leadership positions. A significant majority of our instrument sales are in segments in which we are the global leader. In addition to a broad product offering, we have one of the largest global sales and service organizations among precision instrument companies. We focus on the high value-added segments of our markets by providing innovative instruments that often integrate various technologies including application-specific solutions for customers. We design our instruments not only to gather valuable data but also to facilitate the processing and transfer of this data into customers' management information systems. Connect with us youtube.com/user/mettlertoledo twitter.com/mettlertoledo www.facebook.com/mettlertoledo Explore our Expertise Library www.mt.com/library to discover the information you need to make the right decisions at your workplace, explore hot topics in manufacturing, pharma, food manufacturing, and other industries.

www.mt.com

SUN LIFE FINANCIAL- INTERVIEW WITH BWM TOP 100 INNOVATION CEO

About Sun Life
Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing insurance, wealth, and asset management solutions to individual and corporate clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Bermuda. As of September 30, 2020, Sun Life had total assets under management of $1,186 billion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com.

"Best User-Friendly Banking Platform" National Bank of Egypt

NBE is the oldest commercial bank in Egypt. It was established on June 25, 1898 with a capital of £ 1 million. Throughout its long history, NBE's functions and roles have continually developed to square with the different economic and political stages in Egypt. During the 1950s, NBE assumed the central bank's duties. After its nationalization in the 1960s, it acted as a pure commercial bank besides carrying out the functions of the central bank in the areas where the latter had no branches. Moreover, since mid-1960s, NBE has been in charge of issuing and managing investment certificates on behalf of the government.

During the period from July 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2021 (18 months), NBE managed to achieve unprecedented performance indicators. Total financial position as at the end of December 2021 recorded EGP 3.3 trillion, growing 60.2% against the end of June 2020. Accordingly, NBE's total assets accounted for 37.5% of Egyptian banks' total assets. NBE's financial position continued to scale up to EGP 3.6 trillion as at end-June 2022.

Total deposits reached EGP 2.4 trillion as at end-December 2021, with a growth rate of 50% against June 2020, accounting for 37.1% of total banks' deposits. Such leap was driven by the introduction of a diversified package of deposits in local and foreign currencies at competitively lucrative rates. NBE's deposits approached EGP 2.8 trillion as at end-June 2022, which highlights the customers' confidence in our Bank.

NBE has further provided a set of distinguished finance schemes that meet the needs of key economic sectors. As at the end of December 2021, the total retail loan portfolio worth EGP 159 bn., "with a market share of 26.3%", grew by EGP 57 bn. against June 2020, with a growth rate of 56%, of which EGP 11.5 bn. were extended to 105,000 customers as part of the Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) initiative for mortgage finance. Retail loans continuously went up to reach EGP 188 bn. as at end-June 2022.

As for large corporate finance, NBE has also assumed an active role in funding key national economic sectors. Total large corporate loan portfolio surged 66.7% to reach EGP 904 bn. as at end-December 2021, continuing to rise up to EGP 1 trillion as at end-June 2022.

In line with NBE's support to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), the total SME loan portfolio accounted for EGP 110 bn. as at end-December 2021, growing by EGP 33 bn., representing 42.9% against June 2020, to record EGP 132 bn. as at June 2022.

Total loans have thus risen 66% to reach EGP 1.2 trillion, accounting for 38.7% of Egyptian banks' loans. Total loans continued to grow to amount to EGP 1.4 trillion as at end-June 2022.

All such efforts resulted in achieving profit (before taxes) of EGP 66 bn. Net profit reached EGP 29.7 bn. in the period from July 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2021 (18 months).

NBE succeeded in increasing its shareholders' equity to EGP 182 bn. as at the end of December 2021, growing by 49.2% against June 2020.

NBE is one of the largest contributors to social responsibility among banks in Egypt. It believes that it has a significant role to play in improving the quality of life of Egyptians. Such contributions were vigorously engaged in supporting healthcare, education, slums development, combating poverty, alleviating the distress of imprisoned indebted persons, and empowering disabled persons, as well as supporting culture and maintaining heritage. As a result, NBE’s contributions to social responsibility totaled EGP 9.3 bn. in 6 years.

In early 2022, NBE launched a strategy skewed towards boosting the digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and omni-channel marketing; and promoting the customers' digital experience in the various banking aspects. Accordingly, NBE signed a cooperation protocol in March 2022 with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (CIT) to establish a training academy with a view to preparing professionals in the trends of advanced technology, most notably information security and data centers.

Crowning its efforts, NBE was ranked first in the Egyptian and African markets for undertaking various roles such as the finance agent, lead arranger and book runner for syndicated loans in the first half of 2022, through managing 13 finance deals surpassing an amount of EGP 54 bn. It came in the third position as a finance agent, sixth spot as a lead arranger, and tenth place as a book runner for syndicated loans in MENA region, according to Bloomberg's league tables.

In addition, NBE has received the award of the Best Trade Finance Provider in Egypt for 2022. Mr. Hisham Okasha, NBE Chairman, was named the best banking CEO in Egypt for 2022 from the World Economic magazine.

NBE was ranked the second most valuable banking brand in Egypt in 2022 with a brand value of USD 461 mn., according to Brand Finance's " Egypt's top 10 brands for 2022".

Furthermore, NBE received the ISO 27001:2013 certification for information security management system for the seventh year in a row. It has renewed and enhanced its compliance with ISO 22301:2012 certification for business continuity management system. In addition, NBE was the first in Egypt, Africa and Middle East to receive ISO 9001:2015 certification for the quality management system of Legal Group from the British Standards Institution (BSI).

Global Finance magazine named NBE Best Bank for Liquidity Management in the Middle East in 2022.

NBE also won the African Banker Magazine's award for Best Bank in North Africa for 2022. Moreover, it won GFC Media Group's “Project Finance Deal of the Year” for financing Evergrow for Specialty Fertilizers in 2022. Meanwhile, NBE was recognized by MEED (Middle East Economic Digest) as the Best Retail Bank in MENA for 2022. NBE ranked first in Egypt and fourth in Africa on The Banker's Top 1000 World Banks 2022 list.

NBE received two awards: Best Retail Bank and Best Trade Finance Provider in Egypt for 2022 from the Global Economics.

NBE was recognized by the global institution "The Asian Banker" as Egypt's Best Retail Bank in 2021.

EMEA Finance has presented to NBE four awards in several areas as follows: "Best Syndicated Loan House", "Best Structured Finance House", "Best Refinancing House", and "Best Restructuring House" in Africa for 2021. NBE further obtained eight awards from the same institution for the best finances extended across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), including "Best Restructuring House", "Best Structured Finance", and "Best Refinancing House" in EMEA. The Bank was acclaimed for its landmark securitizations and local currency finance deals. NBE also succeeded to obtain "Best Financial Institution Syndicated Loan in EMEA". Furthermore, Global Custodian Magazine recognized NBE as the best custodian in Egypt for foreign customers in 2021.

Constantly developing its diversified services and products to provide customers with top-notch services, NBE increased the number of ATMs and improved their deployment nationwide to reach 6,100. It also raised the number of POS to 398,000 in June 2022.

Keen on promoting the culture of financial inclusion and digitalization, NBE introduced several online banking services to cater for 6.6 mn. customers via Al Ahly Net, and 1.85 mn. customers via Phone Cash wallets. Moreover, the Bank opened 35 electronic service branches in order to reduce cash transactions in the market.
Moreover, NBE stayed in the lead in terms of retail cards, issuing a total of 4 mn. prepaid cards and 6.2 mn. debit cards in December 2021.

To boost stock investments and securities market, NBE has a large number of mutual funds that support the Egyptian capital market and deliver services to a distinguished segment of customers. NBE also offers investment services by expanding the central depositary and trading services.

NBE has an extensive network of 615 branches, offices and banking units nationwide (serving nearly 17.8 mn. customers). Additionally, the Bank maintains an effective international presence through National Bank of Egypt (UK) Limited, National Bank of Egypt (Khartoum) – Sudan, NBE Juba PLC (South Sudan), New York and Shanghai branches (in USA and China), and representative offices in Johannesburg – South Africa, Dubai – UAE and Addis Ababa – Ethiopia, plus NBE (DIFC) Limited for financial advice. This is in addition to a vast correspondent bank network around the globe (Europe – USA – Australia – Canada – the Far East – Africa – the Arabian Gulf).

NBE is always keen to deliver top-quality and cutting-edge banking services and products to its esteemed customers so that the Bank can maintain their precious confidence and continue its leadership in the local banking market.

"Best Banking Solutions" Guaranty Trust Bank Plc

About Guaranty Trust Bank Limited
Guaranty Trust Bank Limited (GTBank) is a multinational financial institution that provides individuals, businesses, private and public institutions across Africa and the United Kingdom with a broad range of market-leading financial products and services. Headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria and with subsidiaries in Cote D'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom, the Bank currently employs over 12,000 professionals and has Total assets and Shareholders’ Funds of ₦4.057trillion and ₦661.1Billion respectively.

At Guaranty Trust Bank Limited, we constantly strive to create the best outcomes for our customers and communities. Our strong service culture, efficient management, world class corporate governance standards and bias for innovation has enabled us maintain consistent year on year growth in customer base and profitability since inception. We are also passionate champions and enduring patrons of a wide range of Social Responsibility causes channelled towards improving access to Education, driving Community Development, promoting the Arts and and protecting the Environment.

As a Proudly African and Truly International Institution, we are fully invested in powering our continent’s progress. We are at the forefront of promoting enterprise and empowering small businesses, and our free business platforms, the GTBank Fashion Weekend and the GTBank Food and Drink Festival, are driving the growth of Africa’s fashion and food industries and helping to create new and global opportunities for the continent’s incredibly young population.

The GTBank vision is to become a Platform for Enriching Lives by building strong, value adding relationships with customers, stakeholders and the communities in which it operates. In line with this vision, we are constantly pioneering ground-breaking ideas that offer customers more value beyond banking, such as Habari, an integrated digital platform that connects customers to anything they need, from e-commerce to music, in one place. We are also revolutionizing access to consumer loans with our first-of-its-kind digital lending product, Quick Credit, which gives individuals and small businesses instant, real-time access to loans anytime, anywhere.

Over the years, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited has been the recipient of numerous notable awards for product and service innovation, corporate social responsibility and world class governance standards. In 2019, GTBank was recognized as the Best Bank in Africa and Best Bank in Nigeria, by the Euromoney Magazine and the Best Banking Group and Best Retail Bank Nigeria by World Finance Magazine. In the same year, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited also dominated the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Electronic Payment Incentive Scheme (EPIS) Efficiency Awards for the third year in row, taking home 8 of the 12 honours for banks at the forefront of driving the digitalization of financial services.

"Best Digital Financial Service" WeLab

WeLab’s story, fittingly, started at a bank. In 2013, a team of visionary bankers saw the inefficiencies of traditional banks and their inability to make credit accessible and simple for all consumers. So, they left their banking jobs and started WeLab. Ever since, WeLab has been focused on one ambitious vision – bringing joy to your financial journey. Because why shouldn’t your journey with money be anything less than enjoyable? Money is essential and a constant in our lives and you deserve to have a positive and fun experience with it!

With this vision, we then embarked on a journey to improve lives through game-changing technology and innovation. Leveraging big-data powered technology and our know-how in risk management, we are revolutionizing lending by delivering seamless, purely online lending experiences accessible 24/7 to underserved consumers. But lending is only our first step and only one part of your financial journey. We aim to offer a broader spectrum of financial products and services that our customers love by continuously leveraging our technology and expertise in creating customer-centric experiences.

Today, we have over 800 employees and operate market-leading online consumer credit platforms across 3 markets – WeLend in Hong Kong, WeLab Digital in Mainland China and Maucash in Indonesia. Beyond the ~50 million users who have achieved financial freedom through our consumer platforms, we have empowered hundreds of millions more through our enterprise solutions. We have become a leading technology enabler, providing the consumer lending technology we developed to leading banks and institutions, helping them launch their own fintech product and services.

Our journey has just begun. With our tech-enabled model, we are serving people’s financial needs at every life stage. We are continuing this journey by launching WeLab Bank, Hong Kong’s only homegrown virtual bank, to offer a wide range of digital financial product offerings to democratize banking and make banking fun. We continue to work tirelessly, every single day, to provide greater convenience and accessibility to financial services.

Brands Insight Magazine - Award Winners 2024

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