East West Banking Corp. tries to replicate its victory last year as it again vies for the best website in the Banking and Finance category of the 2005 Philippine Web Awards. The award, considered the "FAMAS of the Internet," honors the country’s best websites across 14 different sectors of the society annually. This year, the award carries the theme "Festivals & Fiestas" in exaltation of the colorful fiesta celebrations that we hold yearlong and which have become a symbol of the country’s festive allure.
East West Bank’s joining the award, its fourth to date, is a fitting celebration to its many milestones in information technology. In 2004, only on its third try, the bank won the Best Website Award in the Banking and Finance Category over other serious contenders.
East West Bank’s website (www.eastwestbanker.com) boasts of colorful, fully functional and user-friendly pages. The website is easy to navigate and contains information that is of value to depositors, suppliers and all other users of the website.
The website features NetAccess, in which depositors are able to do a host of basic banking transactions such as balance inquiry, funds transfer, bills payment and checkbook reorder. This feature is the bank’s "out-of-the-box" banking philosophy at work, in which the bank promotes alternative options in banking using the advances in information technology.
Last year, the website posted 4.9 million hits, which were a record of the actual bank transactions. Thus, behind the kaleidoscope of colors is an opportunity to do banking at the comfort of the depositors’ location.
In this year’s contest, East West Bank is up against three other contenders in the Banking and Finance Category. A total of 106 websites, including that of East West Bank, made it to this year’s list of semi-finalists.
The award comes with a trophy and a cash prize. Besides the best website award, East West Bank’s website also has the chance to be this year’s People’s Choice and Most Popular Website. Voting can be done through SMS or online. For details on how to vote, log on to www.philippinewebawards.com or type WEBBYS<space>VOTE<space>7 and send it to 2973 for Globe and Touch Mobile Subscriber or 283 for Smart or Talk and Text Subscribers. A R2.50 will be charged per SMS. Awarding will be held on Nov. 25 at Meralco Theater in Pasig City. 
