Emirates Bank unveils internet service
2001 - A futuristic internet-based service with overtones of cafe banking has been unveiled by Emirates Bank Group in what is reportedly a first for the Middle East. Styled MeBank, the first cyberbranch based on a clicks-and-mortar model was inaugurated by Anis Al Jallaf, group managing director and chief executive officer. The new branch is, appropriately, based in Dubai Internet City. “Online banking is the future. Our idea was to offer customers a way to conduct their banking themselves in a relaxed atmosphere, while sipping coffee, through MeBank. It has multiple hi-tech outlets featuring ATMs, PCs with telephones, and touchscreen internet terminals, to carry out a range of operations 24 hours a day seven days a week,” Al Jallaf said.
March 12
1841 - English inventor Orlando Jones patents a process for producing starch from rice.
1854 - Britain and France conclude alliance with Turks against Russia.
1868 - Britain annexes Basutoland, South Africa.
1918 - Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after St Petersburg held this status for 215 years.
1930 - Mahatma Gandhi begins a 320-kilometre march to protest a British tax on salt.
1940 - Finland and the Soviet Union conclude an armistice during Second World War.
1946 - The US Civil Aeronautics Administration issues the first commercial helicopter licence to the Bell Aircraft Corporation for its Model 47.
1947 - The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
1966 - General Suharto is sworn in as the acting president of Indonesia.
1968 - Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, a British colony, proclaims its independence.
1988 - At least 100 football fans die as a crowd stampedes towards locked exits in a storm at Kathmandu National Stadium, Nepal.
1993 - A series of bombs explodes in Bombay (Mumbai), India, killing at least 250 people.
1994 - The Church of England ordains its first women priests.
1999 - Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join Nato.
2006 - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez raises a new flag with symbols for indigenous people and labourers.
2007 - British journalist Alan Johnston is kidnapped in the Gaza Strip by unknown assailants.
2013 - Emirates airline launches a $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) sukuk.
