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NBAD launches first banking business centre in Sharjah

DUBAI — The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) on Monday launched first business banking centre in Sharjah to expand its services to small and medium-sized enterprises 
in the emirate.

The new centre, which exclusively serves SMEs, operates on the top floor of the NBAD Burj Avenue branch in Shajah. The NBAD plans to launch two more business banking centres in Dubai and one in each of the emirates of Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah/Umm Al Qaiwain, and Fujairah this year.

“NBAD plans to have 14 dedicated business banking centres throughout the UAE by end of first quarter of 2012,” Haitham Al Refaie, the head of business banking group at NBAD, told Khaleej Times.

Ahmed Al Medfaa, Chairman of Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI); board members of SCCI, Hussein Muhammad Al Mahmoudi, SCCI director-general; Saif Ali Al Shehhi, the senior general manager of the domestic banking division of NBAD and senior executives of the bank inaugurated the new business centre. “SMEs are very important players in economic growth and NBAD is keen in providing best products and highest standards of services to our SME clients,” Saif Ali Al Shehhi, senior general manager of domestic banking division at NBAD, said.

Al Shehhi said the business centre will provide a wide range of banking solutions and products to meet the ever expanding demands of the customers.

“We continue to open new banking centers that exclusively serve small and medium-sized businesses because serving this important segment is a core strategy of NBAD’s domestic operations,” said Al Refaie said.

NBAD’s new business banking centre offers credit facilities to companies, as well as trade finance, treasury services, among its many superior services. The bank launched its first centre in February this year in Abu Dhabi Industrial City (ICAD) and followed with new centres in Al Ain, and in Jebel Ali and Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai.

Recent statistics reveal that SMEs account for more than 46 per cent of the UAE’s GDP and around 90 per cent of all businesses in the country. In the first half of 2011, NBAD acquired about 3,000 new SME accounts and increased SME deposits by Dh1.15 billion and loans rose by Dh400 million.

“Expanding our network is an essential element in NBAD’s commitment in providing exemplary service and making our services more accessible to SME customers,” Al Refaie.

· —muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com