Awards 2007: Business Bank of the Year
And the winner of the Business Bank of the Year award is...
Sponsored by AIMS Accountants for Business
Winner: Barclays Bank
Readers of Accountancy Age and our sister title Best Practice have voted
Barclays as their Business Bank of the Year.
In an extremely close-run category, Barclays edged out some of its biggest
rivals to win this inaugural award.
Readers were asked to make their choice after taking a number of factors into
account including: quality of service, value for money, understanding of general
business issues, understanding of their sector and/or region and understanding
of their business.
And with banking among the most fiercely competitive industries around it was
no surprise that this emerged as one of the most closely fought of all the
categories in this year’s Accountancy Age Awards.
Barclays may be one of the biggest names in banking, but with businesses –
especially smaller businesses – often looking to boutique outfits to meet their
financial services needs, it was no certainty that a household name would win
this year’s award.
So it was no surprise that voting in this category was extremely close as
businesses and business advisers recognise that most providers of banking
services to corporates have raised their game in recent years.
Clients want quality and value and most banks, to their credit, have
responded by offering a more personalised service and by seeking to develop
their understanding of clients’ business.
Increasingly, businesses – like consumers – are reluctant to deal with
automated voice cues and distant call centres and want someone on the end of a
phone who listens to them. Relationships matter too.
Run in conjunction with Best Practicemagazine, this award was open to all
organisations