The best agents, consultants, developers, architects and interior designers from across the length and breadth of the Asia Pacific region were celebrated at the J W Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Friday (April 27th). The leading property professionals behind these outstanding firms were invited to attend the Asia Pacific Property Awards in association with HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Asia to receive their accolades.

For the first time, Phuket Island Property Services Co., Ltd. was awarded a highly commended lettings agency for Thailand. "We could not be happier, especially when receiving such an award in our first participation. All of our hard work over the past 12 years has been recognized as being of a suitable international standard that provides confidence and satisfaction for our guests that they can book their holidays with PIPS," Allan Mossop, MD, said.

These awards, combined with the other regional awards' programmes for Arabia, Europe, Africa and the Americas, form the globally renowned International Property Awards. Now entering their 18th year, they are the world's most prestigious property competition and cover residential as well as commercial categories.

Judging was carried out through a meticulous process involving a panel of over 60 experts covering every aspect of the property business. The next stage of the awards' programme is for top scoring five-star winners of each category to be re-judged against those from the other regions to determine the ultimate World's Best winners. President of the International Property Awards, Stuart Shield, says, "Asia Pacific always puts up a very strong representation across the many different categories within the awards' programme. It also consistently proves to be the hardest region to beat when it comes to competing internationally for the highly coveted World's Best awards."

Director, Malaysian and Multinational Corporates, HSBC Bank Malaysia, Alvin Tay, says, "HSBC is proud to participate in this Summit given the Bank's continuous support to the growth of the hospitality and property development industries in Malaysia and the Asia-Pacific region. With HSBC Group's extensive global network and international experience of more than 145 years, we have the capability and capacity to fulfil the industries' domestic and cross-border needs through our innovative financial solutions."