Are you the Best Bank of the Year? 

Okay, so we all know this has been a year like no other – and the ripple effect of COVID-19 is set to cause substantial global economic damage and long-lasting implications for the financial sector. But here at Boost Awards, we are seeing many stories from banks and financial services providers that also tell another, far more positive story.

In retail/consumer banking there has been a renewed focus on building strong relationships with customers, looking after employees and bringing innovation to the fore. With many consumer banks pivoting quickly, introducing new technology, services and customer support to suit a changing consumer landscape, there is a great opportunity for recognition through banking awards and customer service awards.

But it can’t be just ‘any old award’ for such a heavily regulated sector. So, which are credible awards for banking, and how winnable are they?

Boost can help you to plan an awards strategy for your most powerful stories, but for now, here are some pointers on the best awards for banks.

“With many consumer banks pivoting quickly, introducing new technology, services and customer support to suit a changing consumer landscape, there is a great opportunity for recognition through banking awards and customer service awards.”

Regional awards for banking

This neatly brings me on to a growing area: regional banking awards. When I first started writing banking awards 13 years ago, there were only a handful of schemes that were truly international, and even less (credible awards) for specific regions.

Now there are an impressive selection of awards across many regions and specialisms, all of which are gaining momentum. For instance:

• APAC: The Asian Banker Excellence in Retail Financial Services (January), The Asian Banker Financial Technology Innovation Awards (February), Asian FinTech Awards (February), and The Asian Banking and Finance Retail Banking Awards (May) are just some of the schemes on our list.
• MENA: Banker Middle East Industry Awards (March), Euromoney Awards for Excellence: Middle East (March) and the EMEA Finance Middle East Banking Awards (December/January) are specifically aimed at banking, however there is also a broad selection of specialist and general business awards for MENA that also apply to the banking sector.
• US: There is a strong focus in the US on technology – the extraordinary banking Bank Customer Experience Tech Awards (December) and The American Financial Technology Awards (October) are great schemes for recognising banking tech projects.

Consumer banking awards

A lot of banking awards can cover specific areas of banking, like treasury management, investment or risk, and I will be writing another article on those in the coming weeks. However, consumer banking has a few more general or customer-focused awards on the horizon now, and those are the awards a customer would be reassured by when trying to choose which bank to trust.

Some credible awards for consumer banking coming up soon are:

• Business Moneyfacts Awards: This UK-only scheme relies on independent research alongside an industry survey rather than a written entry submission, making it a robust process that is hard to influence, although a few categories allow a written entry, and others allow you to offer testimonials. Content needs to be supplied during October and up until the late November deadline.
• Retail Banker International RBI Global Awards: If your bank is a retail brand, then this highly credible international award (submission deadline of late March) is worth considering. The awards are run by Verdict from the UK with a London event, but they welcome entries from around the world. Notably, winners have come from across the industry and include all the best-known brands. 

• MoneyAge Awards: These well-known UK-only awards by Perspective Publishing are very credible in the personal finance space due to their association with the MoneyAge publication. As such, the logo can regularly be seen in UK advertisements by banks, particularly the ‘Bank/High Street Bank of the Year’ category. The submission deadline is typically mid-June.

“The pandemic is forcing banks to accelerate their digital transformation plans – launching new, exciting tools and platforms to meet evolving customer demands.”

Best bank for…

Don’t limit your options when looking for bank-specific awards titles. You can gain recognition by playing tactically and going for the ‘best bank’ awards (or similar) in international business awards schemes like Le Fonti Global Awards, The International Business Excellence Awards, The International Business Awards and the US-based Big Awards for Business.

You may find more options if you look for financial service awards categories. This could also present one or two other options to enter at the same time – maybe for your newest HR initiative or CSR activity.

If you do that – the list could go on forever! So, here are just some of my ideas for your awards plan:

• If you need to focus on consumer products and lending, schemes like The Card and Payments Awards (deadline early October) and The Credit Awards offer many banking-specific or product-specific categories.
• If ESG is high on your agenda, then consider awards like the The World’s Most Ethical Companies (International, mid-November deadline) or The Green Apple Awards For Environmental Best Practice that have categories for banking.

For ‘award-winning customer service’ then The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service (an international scheme with mid-January deadline), The Collections and Customer Service Awards (September) and The International Customer Experience Awards (deadline September) all have categories for ‘financial services’.

Are you the Best Bank of the Year? 

Okay, so we all know this has been a year like no other – and the ripple effect of COVID-19 is set to cause substantial global economic damage and long-lasting implications for the financial sector. But here at Boost Awards, we are seeing many stories from banks and financial services providers that also tell another, far more positive story.

In retail/consumer banking there has been a renewed focus on building strong relationships with customers, looking after employees and bringing innovation to the fore. With many consumer banks pivoting quickly, introducing new technology, services and customer support to suit a changing consumer landscape, there is a great opportunity for recognition through banking awards and customer service awards.

But it can’t be just ‘any old award’ for such a heavily regulated sector. So, which are credible awards for banking, and how winnable are they?

Boost can help you to plan an awards strategy for your most powerful stories, but for now, here are some pointers on the best awards for banks.

“With many consumer banks pivoting quickly, introducing new technology, services and customer support to suit a changing consumer landscape, there is a great opportunity for recognition through banking awards and customer service awards.”

Regional awards for banking

This neatly brings me on to a growing area: regional banking awards. When I first started writing banking awards 13 years ago, there were only a handful of schemes that were truly international, and even less (credible awards) for specific regions.

Now there are an impressive selection of awards across many regions and specialisms, all of which are gaining momentum. For instance:

• APAC: The Asian Banker Excellence in Retail Financial Services (January), The Asian Banker Financial Technology Innovation Awards (February), Asian FinTech Awards (February), and The Asian Banking and Finance Retail Banking Awards (May) are just some of the schemes on our list.
• MENA: Banker Middle East Industry Awards (March), Euromoney Awards for Excellence: Middle East (March) and the EMEA Finance Middle East Banking Awards (December/January) are specifically aimed at banking, however there is also a broad selection of specialist and general business awards for MENA that also apply to the banking sector.
• US: There is a strong focus in the US on technology – the extraordinary banking Bank Customer Experience Tech Awards (December) and The American Financial Technology Awards (October) are great schemes for recognising banking tech projects.

Consumer banking awards

A lot of banking awards can cover specific areas of banking, like treasury management, investment or risk, and I will be writing another article on those in the coming weeks. However, consumer banking has a few more general or customer-focused awards on the horizon now, and those are the awards a customer would be reassured by when trying to choose which bank to trust.

Some credible awards for consumer banking coming up soon are:

• Business Moneyfacts Awards: This UK-only scheme relies on independent research alongside an industry survey rather than a written entry submission, making it a robust process that is hard to influence, although a few categories allow a written entry, and others allow you to offer testimonials. Content needs to be supplied during October and up until the late November deadline.
• Retail Banker International RBI Global Awards: If your bank is a retail brand, then this highly credible international award (submission deadline of late March) is worth considering. The awards are run by Verdict from the UK with a London event, but they welcome entries from around the world. Notably, winners have come from across the industry and include all the best-known brands. 

• MoneyAge Awards: These well-known UK-only awards by Perspective Publishing are very credible in the personal finance space due to their association with the MoneyAge publication. As such, the logo can regularly be seen in UK advertisements by banks, particularly the ‘Bank/High Street Bank of the Year’ category. The submission deadline is typically mid-June.

“The pandemic is forcing banks to accelerate their digital transformation plans – launching new, exciting tools and platforms to meet evolving customer demands.”

Best bank for…

Don’t limit your options when looking for bank-specific awards titles. You can gain recognition by playing tactically and going for the ‘best bank’ awards (or similar) in international business awards schemes like Le Fonti Global Awards, The International Business Excellence Awards, The International Business Awards and the US-based Big Awards for Business.

You may find more options if you look for financial service awards categories. This could also present one or two other options to enter at the same time – maybe for your newest HR initiative or CSR activity.

If you do that – the list could go on forever! So, here are just some of my ideas for your awards plan:

• If you need to focus on consumer products and lending, schemes like The Card and Payments Awards (deadline early October) and The Credit Awards offer many banking-specific or product-specific categories.
• If ESG is high on your agenda, then consider awards like the The World’s Most Ethical Companies (International, mid-November deadline) or The Green Apple Awards For Environmental Best Practice that have categories for banking.

For ‘award-winning customer service’ then The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service (an international scheme with mid-January deadline), The Collections and Customer Service Awards (September) and The International Customer Experience Awards (deadline September) all have categories for ‘financial services’.