Creand Crèdit Andorrà is named Bank of the Year in Andorra by the Financial Times Group for the second consecutive year
On presenting the award, the panel highlighted the bank’s solid results and personalisation of the service with the use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence
For the second year running, Creand Crèdit Andorrà has been named Bank of the Year in Andorra, an award presented every year by the renowned international financial publication The Banker, part of the Financial Times Group. The Banker Awards are considered a benchmark in the financial sector, dedicated to rewarding banking excellence.
The award panel analysed and assessed the ability of financial institutions to perform well and turn the challenges posed by the economic environment into opportunities. In this regard, The Banker highlighted “Creand Crèdit Andorrà’s results and the profitability of the business” as important factors when it came to awarding this accolade. Another factor that was taken into account is related to the service and range of products. The panel underlined the bank’s “differentiation through the use of artificial intelligence to maximise personalisation” and its ability to create differential products such as Merkaat, the pioneering digital investment service in Andorra, which has opened up the possibility for small investors to access a premium service.
Xavier Cornella, CEO of Creand, has said that “receiving this award two years in a row is a recognition of the robustness of our business strategy, and the efforts of the entire Creand Crèdit Andorrà team, committed to offering the best possible service to customers, with constant innovation and long-term sustainability”. He added that “this award consolidates us as the leading bank in Andorra, with the vocation to contribute to the country’s economic and social progress through our actions, and focused on the continuous improvement of our service through specialisation and personalisation”.
Xavier Cornella, CEO of Creand, and Antoni Pintat, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Creand, collect the award as part of the awards ceremony in London.
The award highlights the bank’s recent strategic operations, such as the integration of Vall Banc, the brand unification of all the group’s entities worldwide under the Creand name, the promotion of digitalisation in products and services and entrepreneurship as transversal vectors for growth. These actions, among others, led the Creand Group to close 2022 with profits of EUR 43.1 million, 30.7% more than in 2021, and a business volume of EUR 25.002 billion, representing growth of 19.7%.
Another of the projects highlighted by The Banker as a lever for differentiation is the use of AI-based predictive models, which mean the bank’s offer can be better adapted to the specific needs of customers, thus optimising personalisation in the commercial relationship.
In terms of entrepreneurship, the award panel recognised the support that the bank offers this sector of such great economic importance in Andorra, both through the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Banking at the IESE Business School, and with specific solutions to contribute to its development. Creand Crèdit Andorrà promotes programmes such as the Innovation Hub, which connects Andorran SMEs and startups so they can explore solutions that can benefit both parties, and Scale Lab Andorra, an investment programme to support entrepreneurial projects by tech companies in the growth or consolidation phase.
Finally, the bank’s commitment to sustainability and financial education was also praised by the awards’ organisers. Creand Crèdit Andorrà harmonises business criteria with social progress and environmental protection. It is the only bank in Andorra to have signed the UNEP Fi (United Nations) Principles for Responsible Banking, and it has recently incorporated into its organisational structure the new Sustainability Unit, to promote sustainability at the highest executive level and across all departments.