OREANDA-NEWS. December 5, 2007. Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital has provided research support and helped sponsor the inaugural MasterCard Bank of the Year 2007 contest selecting the top banks and insurance companies in Ukraine, the bank's press service reports. The MasterCard Bank of the Year contest was organized in Ukraine by Czech financial consultancy Fincentrum jointly with MasterCard, Dragon Capital and Ernst & Young. The Czech firm has successfully kicked off similar contests in the Czech Republic and Hungary in previous years.

For the Ukraine contest, which will become an annual event, Dragon Capital furnished a detailed overview of the domestic banking and insurance markets and developed criteria that competition organizers used to select eligible banking and insurance institutions. In addition, Dragon Capital proposed nominees for the contest's 70-strong panel of experts who determined the winners in each category.

The following winners at the MasterCard Bank of the Year 2007 awards were announced at a gala ceremony in Kyiv yesterday:

• Bank of the Year 2007: Raiffeisen Bank Aval, Ukraine’s second-largest bank. Second place went to Rodovid Bank and third place to Ukrsotsbank.
• Most Dynamic Bank of the Year: Rodovid Bank, Ukraine’s fastest-growing bank in 2007. Runners up were VAB Bank and First Ukrainian International Bank.
• Most Trusted Bank of the Year: Privatbank, the largest bank in Ukraine. Ukrgazbank took second place and Kredobank third in this category.
• Bank Product of the Year: First Ukrainian International Bank. FUIB received this award in recognition of its mortgage refinancing product offered to clients in 2007. Runners up were Nadra Bank and Raiffeisen Bank Aval.
• Mortgage of the Year: Nadra Bank. Raiffeisen Bank Aval finished second in balloting and state-owned savings bank Oshchadny Bank came third.
• Banker of the Year: Ukrsotsbank CEO Borys Tymonkin.
• Insurance Company of the Year: Universalna Insurance, which ranks among the 10 largest Ukrainian insurers. Following behind were Oranta, Ukraine’s oldest and largest insurer, and INGO Ukraine.