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Bank Windhoek named Bank of the Year by UK publication

Bank Windhoek was crowned Bank of the Year by the leading Financial Times publication, The Banker late last year. The publication annually lists the top 1000 banks in the world, of which China took the top four places in 2019. In Africa, South Africa’s banks dominate the list, but are said to be “slipping”.

Regarded as the benchmark for banking excellence, this publication judges the world’s leading financial institutions on their ability to deliver returns, gain strategic advantage and serve their markets. They commented that “while the global banking system is safer a decade on from the height of the financial crisis, an uncertain economic environment points towards a slowdown.”

“Bank Windhoek was Namibia’s best per-forming bank in a difficult economic climate. The judges were impressed not only by the bank’s strong financial performance, but also by innovative initiatives such as its landmark Green Bond and its Woman in Business product range,” commented John Everington, the editor in charge of African and Middle East matters at The Banker.

Commenting on the award, Bank Windhoek’s Managing Director, Baronice Hans said, “Our success is the result of the dedication, resilience, teamwork and the tenacity of the Bank Windhoek and Capricorn Group teams. Customer centricity is fundamental to how we do business. We believe that strong relationships based on ethical principles, are the currency of business today and pride ourselves on being a relationship-driven bank. We have a unique and proud heritage based on the entrepreneurial foresight and pioneering spirit of our founders embedded in our culture. In as much as we are building a strong and high-performance driven business, we also focus on being a responsible corporate citizen by giving back to the communities in which we operate and ensuring that we embed environmental sustainability into the core of how we approach business. This is a very big part of who we are and what we stand for.”

Johan Swanepoel, Chair of Bank Windhoek and the Capricorn Group, added: “I would like to congratulate our Group’s flagship brand, Bank Windhoek, on receiving the 2019 Bank of the Year Award for Namibia. We are proud of the achievements and continued solid performance of Bank Windhoek in very difficult market conditions.”

Swanepoel praised the Bank Windhoek employees for their resilience, dedication and hard work.

“We are proud to bring home this accolade,” MD Hans continued. “It is confirmation of our commitment to our staff, our customers and being business partners for growth for all our stakeholders. As a truly 100% Namibian bank, we will continue to journey together with all our stakeholders to impact positively in our country and live as Connectors of Positive Change.”