The 2010 WIBC Awards, part of the 17th Annual World Islamic Banking Conference held in Bahrain, have been announced.

The awards are designed to recognise individuals and institutions that have made a significant contribution to the Islamic banking and finance industry.

Abdul Kareem Abu Alnasr, chief executive officer of the National Commercial Bank was named the 2010 WIBC Islamic Banker of the Year in recognition of his significant contribution to the Islamic banking and finance industry during 2010.

The WIBC Islamic Banker of the Year award uses a unique peer-based voting system to identify the winner from a short-list of nominees with the results audited by Ernst & Young, the official award auditors.

The WIBC Institutional Excellence Award 2010 was presented to Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) in recognition of their strong performance notwithstanding the turbulence in the international financial markets.

The WIBC Industry Leadership Award 2010 was presented to Professor Datuk Rifaat Ahmed Abdel Karim, Secretary-General of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), for his role in the successful development of Islamic finance over the past several years, in particular the ground-breaking work at IFSB.-TradeArabia News Service