Dubai Bank opens for business

The UAE's newest bank - Dubai Bank - was yesterday launched by its Chairman Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, at a function also attended by Mohammed Ali Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties, and Ahmed bin Brek, the chief executive of the bank.

Living up to its promise of being a truly breakaway brand and a catalyst of change, the new bank commenced commercial operations yesterday with a rich portfolio of innovative and unique banking products and services.

The bank, capitalised at Dh300 million, is a fully-owned banking subsidiary of the real estate major Emaar Properties.

The move is intended to add Emaar Properties shareholder value by way of diversifying into financial sector. It was a few months ago the shareholders of Emaar ratified the move by the company to enter banking.

At the heart of he bank's new IT-driven service offerings is the introduction of paperless account opening for the bank's customers and instant fulfillment of key banking services.

Exactly after a quarter century since the UAE last saw the birth of a bank when Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank was launched, the launch of Dubai Bank yesterday marked the entry of yet another bank into the country's banking system.

However, Dubai Bank cannot be called a new bank technically because a dormant licence lying with Emirates Bank Group (EBG) was activated by Emaar Properties to set up Dubai Bank.

The new bank, which went operational yesterday with one branch, will have three more branches soon - one each in Abu Dhabi and Jebel Ali during this year, and another one in Dubai, next year.

"Our mission is to bring a breath of fresh air into the banking sector here. I am confident that Dubai Bank will be the benchmark of a new, flexible and transparent attitude to banking in the UAE and the region," said Sheikh Hamdan.

Dubai Bank has been set up on the very premise that 'there is untapped demand for a new bank' which can provide a broader and improved range of products and services for corporate customers on the one hand and the growing market segment of young, educated and demanding retail consumers, on the other.

This has been proved by the Dubai Bank team headed by Ahmed bin Brek, by announcing innovative and unique products and services like paperless banking, global ATM cards, which enables cash withdrawals and deposits on the basis of a single specimen signature, Royal Banking to offer premium banking services for high networth customers, Children's Education Plan, etc.

Alabbar said that Dubai Bank is set to benefit from the multiplier effect of a boom in revenues and spending by the oil economies as a result of the spectacular recovery in the oil market.

"There is also a generally positive outlook in the regional money market, all of which are good signals fore Dubai Bank," he added.

The bank has announced innovative deposits scheme too - checking and savings accounts, a twin account (combining the features of checking and savings in one), value account, which offers higher interest on higher balances, and call account that can be withdrawn at short notice.

The bank which offers highly attractive personal and auto loans has plans to come out with a totally unique credit card in the market by November.

Bin Brek said that the bank has made significant investments in the range of Dh28 to Dh30 million in cutting-edge banking related technologies to drive business and develop exceptional new customer-centric banking products and services.

Bin Brek asserted that Dubai Bank will enter all possible areas of commercial banking and explore possibilities of entering the Investment banking in the future.

On the capital, the bank chief added that though the bank has started with a reasonable capital base, the board will consider increasing it in due course of time as the business grows.