NBK Private Banking Team First in the Middle-East to Qualify for the ‘Chartered Wealth Manager’ (CWM®) Professional Certification

January 24th, 2005

The Private Banking team of NBK have become the first group of financial professionals in the Middle-East region to be awarded the Chartered Wealth Manager (CWM®) certification from the American Academy of Financial Management (AAFM).

The thirty-four members of the NBK Private Banking team successfully completed a pre-course study and a four day training course and examination that qualified them for entry into the fellowship of the AAFM and also allows them the right to use the CWM® professional designation on their business cards and other professional correspondence.

The President of the AAFM, Dr. Prof. George Mentz, along with the head of Private Banking for NBK, Malek Khalife, were both on hand to present the certificates to the successful graduates.

“The rapid emergence of Private Banking and Wealth Management services in the Middle-East has been challenged by poor skill-sets and lack of understanding of critical HNWI product offerings, we hope our programs will resolve such issues. We are very proud to see one of the Middle-East’s strongest institutions, National Bank of Kuwait, supporting the professional development of their team through the CWM program.”Dr. Mentz was present in Kuwait to present the certifications to a select group of graduates.

“This is the first graduating class in Kuwait, and this team now joins the thousands of other CWM practitioners in the AAFM global membership. The standard of the group was very high and National Bank of Kuwait should be very pleased with this result.”

The Head of Private Banking for NBK also offered his congratulations to the team.“Once again our Private Banking team is at the forefront of industry and professional development. This certification clearly separates NBK team from our competitors and is yet another reason our clients can be assured of our dedication to the highest global standards of professional practice.”

American Academy of Financial Management (AAFM) Board of Standards owns the mark CWM©, Chartered Wealth Manager™, and other designations which it awards to individuals who successfully complete initial and ongoing certification requirements. The AAFM has members in 142 countries, affiliations with 560 Universities and Training providers and is recognized and listed by bodies such as Dept of Education, United Nations, US Dept of Labor, The Assn of Certified Economists, the Invesment Management Association, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Peoples Republic of China (SETC), and many others.

The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), which celebrated 50 years of its existence last year, was established in 1952 as the first local and national bank and as the first Joint Stock Company in Kuwait and the Gulf area.

NBK is the largest financial institution in the state of Kuwait. It also enjoys the status of having the largest market share of banking services. NBK’s offices and subsidiaries are located in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Bahrain, Lebanon, Vietnam and Thailand.

All NBK branches have online connections and offer various traditional banking services, such as current and saving accounts, fixed deposits and consumer lending. The bank has recently introduced new services for all the sectors, including investment accounts, personal loans and salary accounts.

NBK has been ranked among the largest 300 banks in the world and the seventh in the Arab world in terms of capital, which exceeds KD 380 million ($1.3 billion). In 1999, the bank generated a record profit of $306 million and a return of 24.5 per cent on the shareholders equity, with total assets equal to $12.4 billion.