OREANDA-NEWS. November 13, 2012. Rietumu Bank, the largest private bank in Latvia, has been awarded the 2012 SPEAR’S Russia Wealth Management Award. The award was granted in the category “Best Bank in the CIS and Baltic States providing private banking services and wealth management for Russian customers”, reported the press-centre of Rietumu Bank.

Formal announcement of the winners of the SPEAR’S Russia Wealth Management Awards 2012 took place on the stage of the Mossovet Theatre in Moscow.

Apart from Rietumu Bank, about 60 large Russian and European banks, investment, audit and insurance companies were nominated: including Alpha Bank, Raiffeisenbank, Ernst & Young, etc.

When receiving the Award, the Senior Vice-President of Rietumu Bank Ilya Suharenko said: “It is a great honour for us to receive this prestigious award. Working with Russian clients, we always try to provide them not only with qualitative European service, but also to understand their needs in each specific case and to find the best individual solutions. We focus on long-term trusting relations – this might largely be the reason why Rietumu Bank has been successfully operating in Russia for as long as 20 years.”

Alexander Gafin, who presented the Award, noted: “Rietumu Bank must really be the closest European bank in every sense of the word for wealthy Russians – it is recognised in business circles and, for instance, in the field of show business. Many well-known Russians have received their residence permits in Latvia, acquired real estate and established companies in this country with the help of Rietumu Bank. Bankers from Rietumu Bank look beyond the limited standard frames of the financial services – this is their strong point.”

It is the second time that Rietumu Bank has received the SPEAR’S Russia Wealth Management Award. It was granted for the first time to the bank in 2009, when Rietumu Bank was also recognised as the best bank in CIS and Baltic States providing private banking services and wealth management for Russian clients.

SPEAR’S Russia Wealth Management Awards is the first annual award in Russia organised to celebrate the greatest achievements in private banking, wealth management and related industries. The award is organised by tradition and analogy with the famous SPEAR’S Wealth Management award ceremony annually held in London by SPEAR’S UK.

The nominees are proposed by SPEAR’S Russia magazine, which is the Russian version of one of the most trustworthy and influential British magazine for the world’s richest.

The nominees are evaluated by the authoritative Judging Panel of the Awards, which includes recognised and influential representatives of the finance industry. The course of the voting is monitored by the Independent Consultant of the Awards; this year, it is the international company PricewaterhouseCoopers. Having received the voting results of the Judging Panel, the Organising Committee, in cooperation with the Independent Consultant of the Awards, sums up the votes for each nominee to determine a winner in each category.