Muscat, November 28, 2016

Bank Sohar is pleased to announce that it has recently been awarded the ‘Best Public Awareness Campaign Middle East Road Safety’ award on a regional level and across the Banking sector at the recently held IQPC Middle East – Qatar Transport Safety Awards which took place recently at the St. Regis Hotel Doha, Qatar. The award, which marks the Bank’s 12th award of 2016, was presented to the Bank in recognition of the originality, effectiveness and overall success of its ongoing ‘Rakiz Wa Sooq’ Road Safety initiative campaign.

The Transport Safety Awards is one of the key highlights of the 5th Edition of the Qatar Transport Safety Forum, organised by IQPC and endorsed by the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Qatar. It was a two-day forum, including the award ceremony, and saw the attendance of a large number of influencers in the area, government entities, municipalities, transport authorities, police, advisories and consultants, and solution providers. Representing Bank Sohar at the event was Ms. Munira Abdulnabi Macki, GM of HR and Corporate Support.

On receiving the award, Ms. Munira Abdulnabi Macki commented, “Bank Sohar has always been a strong supporter of spreading awareness and promoting safer Roads within the Sultanate. Our Road Safety ‘Rakiz Wa Sooq’ campaign is our most recent one that has been designed to build awareness on the dangers of texting and driving through a catchy jingle. Through it we aim to further educate children on road safety in order for them to influence the driving habits of adults. In addition to further educating them, we also wish to instil safe road habits into these children right from early age. I am pleased to see that our efforts are being recognised at such a prestigious international forum. It is a clear indication that our campaign is already having a positive impact on the community and its message is successfully being spread across the country and beyond.”

In addition to the road safety jingle and its accompanying video, the ‘Rakiz Wa Sooq’ campaign this year involves numerous activities including road shows, various school visits, and participation in exhibitions, including the recently conducted Traffic Safety Exhibition organized by Royal Oman Police in association with Oman Exhibition Center.

“On behalf of the Bank I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Oman Road Safety Association, the Royal Oman Police, and Shabab FM for their continued support of the campaign; which has been an invaluable contribution towards its success,” concluded Ms. Munira Abdulnabi Macki.

The Transport Safety Awards was organised to recognise excellence in the field of transport safety in the Middle East region. The awards were presented in nine categories, with entry open to government and private organisations that operate in the Middle East and North Africa region. The awards were independently judged by an expert panel of industry judges. Following the judging process, Bank Sohar received praise for the originality and effectiveness of the ‘Road Safety ‘Rakiz Wa Sooq’ campaign and accompanying jingle; and was subsequently presented with the ‘Best Road Safety Awareness Campaign’ award.

This award marks the 12th recognition the Bank has received in 2016. The other awards the Bank has won this year include the ‘Peak of Success’ Award for Business Excellence by Texas-based World Confederation of Businesses (WORLDCOB), the ‘Best Social Media Bank Oman 2016’ award at the Global Business Outlook Awards 2016, ‘Best Customer Service Brand – Oman’ and ‘Best Financial Brand – Oman’ by the UK-based Global Brands Magazine (GBM), the 'Best Mid-Size Bank in Asset Quality' Award at the Oman Banking and Finance Awards, the OER Top 20 Large Corporate Awards from Oman Economic Review (OER) Magazine, ‘Silver Award – Website’ under Banking Category by Oman Tech Awards 2016, the ‘Strategic Website of the Year Award 2016’ by Pan Arab Excellence Awards Academy, ‘Best Straight Through Processing’ (STP) Banks in Oman by JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, in addition to winning the ‘Best Customer Service - Oman’ Award and the ‘Best Call Centre – Oman’ Award from UAE-based CPI Financial. In addition to these awards, the year 2015 also witnessed the Bank receiving 16 local, regional and international acknowledgements ranging from excellence in performance, quality, customer service, social media and CSR, which serve as a testament to the Bank’s commitments in upholding excellence in all its endeavours and strategies and hard work of its management and staff.

For more information on Bank Sohar, please visit www.banksohar.net  or call 24730000. You can also follow the Bank on Facebook at www.facebook.com/excel.banksohar , on Instagram at www.instagram.com/banksoharexcel  or join the conversation on Twitter @banksohar_excel.

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© Press Release 2016