MANAMA, 14 March 2005 — BankMuscat, the nation’s largest bank, was awarded the prestigious Gulf Excellence Award 2005 at a ceremony held held in Bahrain recently. The award is a recognition to companies based in the Gulf region, honoring the commitment of their managements to pursue excellence in performance by putting in place cutting-edge and globally benchmarked standards to be competitive in their spheres of operation. Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa ibn Salman Al-Khalifa presented the award to Sheikh Abdul Malik ibn Abdullah Al-Khalili, chairman of BankMuscat during the ceremony.