Emirates NBD and Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corp were among the 20 financial institutions to receive the Visa Leader Award at the Visa APCEMEA  2013 Security Summit. 

 

The award recognises the banks’ contributions towards effectively managing fraud and risk.

 

The Visa Leader awards were established to promote best practice in risk management standards across the financial services industry, said a statement.

 

The Leader Award winners are selected based on quantitative and qualitative criteria that included fraud to sales ratios; authentication measures; data security; PCI-DSS compliance; risk initiative and innovation as well as fraud investigation. 

 

The Leader Award is divided into two categories: “Best Issuing Institution ” and “Best Acquiring Institution ”. 

 

Emirates NBD – UAE received “The Best Issuing Institution in Mena” award for being the largest bank by assets in the UAE that has performed consistently. As last year’s Issuing Leader Awards winner, Emirates NBD has played an active role in sharing operational, risk updates and trends with the rest of the industry, said the statement. 

 

Al Rajhi Banking & Investment Corp of Saudi Arabia received “The Best Acquiring Institution in Mena” award for adopting a proactive and effective risk management approach as well as maintaining fraud levels well-below country average. Al Rajhi is also recognised for implementing several changes and enhancements in the acquiring fraud monitoring process to ensure that they have stayed below the stipulated thresholds. 

 

“We have worked hand-in-hand with the payments community to harden the Visa system against potential attacks, but we must be constantly vigilant and avoid complacency. Even with global fraud rates near historic lows, we must adapt faster than those that might seek to do damage to the stakeholders in the payment ecosystem. With new players, technology and consumers having greater access to the internet, the potential exposure to risk has increased,” said Ihab Ayoub, Visa general manager for Middle East and North Africa.  – TradeArabia News Service