National Bonds records Dh1b sales in UAE

Dubai: National Bonds, the Sharia-compliant national savings scheme of the UAE on Sunday announced that its sale of bonds touched Dh1 billion at the end of May, this year, compared with Dh409 million for the same period in 2007.

Growth from the beginning of the year showed an increase in customer numbers by 21 per cent with total volumes growing 58 per cent.

Mohammad Qasim Al Ali, Chief Executive Officer of National Bonds Corporation, said that the surge in sales was driven by the company's strategy to increase awareness of the value of savings among all UAE residents.

"The simplicity of investing in our bonds has made us a household name in the UAE. The savings habit is getting ingrained deeper in the UAE society as demonstrated by the growth of 150 per cent in the number of bond sales in 2008 compared to the same period in 2007," he said.

Stellar performance

Al Ali added that the company's stellar performance in 2007 has greatly strengthened investor confidence: "Earlier this year, we disbursed an annual profit of 6.03 per cent, which is higher than that of any other comparable savings product in the market.

"The key value proposition is that our bonds are priced as low as Dh10 and can be purchased from over 300 locations in the UAE. Today, our 420,000 bondholders come from all walks of life, which is testament of our efforts in making National Bonds everyone's favourite place to save."