Dubai: MashreqMillionaire Sunday announced its first Dh10 million winner, as well as the Dh1 million winners in the world's highest observatory — At the Top, Burj Khalifa.
The Dh10 million was won by Saji Ommen and the Dh1 million was won by Sanjay Hingovani. More than 20 people won Dh10,000.
The bank also announced multiple new winning options.
"Our millionaire certificate savings product has done very well, in different shapes and forms. The need of the hour, in this economic cycle, is to encourage our customers to save more, and they have. This is why we introduced a very high windfall prize of Dh10 million," Omar Salem Asghar, the bank's Senior Vice-President and Head of Wealth Management, told Gulf News.
The innovative savings scheme allows residents in the UAE to invest in savings certificates and win, without the risk of losing their initial investment.
In its 15th year, the programme has created over 217 million millionaires and distributed over Dh347 million.
In May it was the turn of Romana Jaffry, who could not believe her good luck, winning Dh1 million after buying just two certificates.
"I was shocked when I first found out. One of the radio stations called me to say I won this and first I thought it was a joke. But then of course I was so happy and [could not] express my excitement," she said.
Jaffry and her husband are planning to buy a big house in their country, Pakistan, with about half of the money and use some of the other half for daily life and charity.
Mashreq's new prize structure will offer several more winning options, beginning next month.
These include a mega draw of Dh5 million and Dh1 million on December 30, the latter for those who have held certificates for more than two years.
The monthly Dh1 million draw and the opportunity for 20 people to win Dh10,000 will continue. In addition, another Dh1,000 will be given out to 500 winners each month. The earlier customers start saving, the more bonus entries they can get.
Jaffry says; "I think I should buy more and go for Dh10 million."
Asghar said that they will distribute 521 prizes monthly and there will be opportunities to win Dh16 million plus over the next six months.
