OREANDA-NEWS. June 11, 2013. The Citadele Bank has been declared to be one of the top 10 finalists in the prestigious European Business Awards competition, receiving honours in the category “The Infosys Business of the Year Award” for companies with revenues between EUR 26 and 150 million. The award is granted to companies which have demonstrated rapid business growth, good financial results and innovations.

15,000 companies took part in the competition, and after three rounds, Citadele’s results allowed it to become a finalist. The jury praised Citadele’s ethical credentials, good stakeholder relationships and long term planning balanced by the flexibility to deliver consistent results in dynamic market conditions.

“This award from the prestigious European Business Awards competition proves that we have achieved significant results at the Latvian and European level,” says Citadele CEO Guntis Belavskis. “The bank’s growth, basic operations and the unique products that we offer to our clients in the Baltic market are the key to this success. I must thank our clients and the entire Citadele team for the award.”

The competition began last year, when a special jury of European business leaders, academics and businesspeople sought the 100 best companies so as to award the “Ruban d’Honner” status to them. The winners were selected on the basis of business achievements, operational dynamics, purposefulness and ethical standards.

For the first time, second-round participants in the competition had to produce and submit a representational video about them. The videos were uploaded on the European Business Awards Internet site, and visitors could vote for their favourites, thus identifying national champions in each country. The other national champions were selected by the jury. Citadele was declared to be one of five national champions in Latvia during the second round of the competition.

The recipients of the “Ruban d’Honner” status presented their achievements before the international jury and in person.

The 15,000 companies, which took part in the European Business Awards competition, came from France, Slovenia, Romania, the Czech Republic, Poland, etc. The awards have been presented to Europe’s best companies since 2007 to emphasise good achievements and innovative and ethical business operations.