United Arab Emirates, Dubai- 20th May 2008:  Emirates NBD recently sponsored DI@TECH 2008, Dubai International Academy's Technology Fair, to promote the importance of technology in a global knowledge economy.  Emirates NBD participated in the show as a key sponsor, and showcased its Education Savings Plans to the targeted audience of parents and students.

Mr. Suvo Sarkar, Emirates NBD General Manager-Retail Banking commented on the sponsorship, "An important element of Emirates NBD's mission is to be a responsible partner and an embedded bank in the community, and support of educational institutions and education related events is a key part of  this objective.  In addition, Emirates NBD, as a pioneer in online banking, is renowned for its use of the latest technology and hence our participation at this technology fair demonstrates our drive to bring to the UAE 'tomorrow's technology today'.  Emirates NBD is constantly researching and developing its banking system to provide the latest and most sophisticated services to its customers." 

Emirates NBD showcased the Super Saver Plan at the show to educate visiting parents about an easy and affordable solution to securing higher education for their children.  The bank's aim is to become a banking partner to customers by offering them simple and effective solutions to meet their financial needs. 

The Super Saver plan is a savings and investment plan for saving towards the cost of education of children. The plan offers customers the opportunity to pay monthly contributions which would be invested in 40 of the best performing mutual funds in the world.  Over the years, such contributions would grow within the plan offering customers the ability  to pay for their children's higher education easily. Super Saver can be signed up for by interested customers with a premium as low as $200 per month. Contribution terms could be as low as 2 years, leading up to 20 years. The plan also offers free accidental death benefit up to $200,000.

In line with its mission of using technology to enable, empower and energise education,  the DI@TECH 2008 fair showcased the creative skills of students in a diverse field ranging from information to internet-based technology. The one-day event provided parents and community members the opportunity to understand how technology can change the lives of their children, as well as societies.

DI@TECH is a festival to celebrate technology - a celebration of innovative ways of learning, a celebration of creativity, collaboration and critical thinking skills of students. The Technology Fair is a way for the school to further enhance the inter-disciplinary nature of its curriculum, and is part of the school's aim to build lifelong learners for the global knowledge economy. Other sponsors of the DI@TECH were: Microsoft, Intel and HP.

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About Emirates NBD
Emirates NBD (DFM: ENBD) is a Dubai-based banking group resulting from the merger of Emirates Bank Group and National Bank of Dubai Group.  It is the biggest banking group in the GCC by assets and the biggest banking group in the UAE by market capitalization.   The Group has a leading retail banking franchise in the UAE, with over 100 branches and over 430 ATMs.  It is a major player in the UAE corporate banking arena, with a combined market share of almost a fifth of corporate loans.  It also has strong Islamic banking, investment banking, private banking, asset management and brokerage operations. 

The Group has operations in the UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Kingdom and Jersey (Channel Islands), and representative offices in India, Iran and Singapore.

About Emirates Bank
Emirates Bank offers a full range of retail banking products and services under the 'me' brand name.  These include: Current & Savings Accounts, Tiered Saving Accounts, Term Deposits, Personal Loans, Car Loans, Credit Cards, Insurance Products, banking products for Indian and Lebanese Expatriates, as well as well as Credit Card Loyalty Programme. In addition, Emirates Bank offers its customers priority banking services through Al Shaheen.

Emirates Bank offers its customers the convenience of banking across a range of channels (on-line, phone banking) and through visiting one of the wide network of branches across the UAE.

Emirates Bank has been awarded the coveted status of a 'Superbrand' for the past four consecutive years. For more information on Emirates Bank, kindly visit: www.emiratesbank.ae.

About National Bank of Dubai
Founded in 1963, National Bank of Dubai is the oldest, locally incorporated bank in the Southern Gulf. Known as the bank with a performance that is second-to-none, NBD has built a reputation of stability and strength much appreciated by shareholders and customers alike. Recognizing this leading performance, NBD has been awarded with the Dubai Quality Award for the year 2005.

Offering diversified financial services, NBD is a leader in corporate banking. Its portfolio covers a wide range of services including transport, real estate, construction, manufacturing, tourism and service industries throughout the region. In addition, NBD's 'Private Office' provides private banking services, offering highly tailored solutions to preserve and protect the personal wealth of its customers.  Along with supplying customers with a variety of exclusive service based products, secured facilities, Credit Cards, personal loans, , auto loans and home loans, National Bank of Dubai also offers a variety of treasury products and services, advising customers on exchange markets and interest rate outlook. NBD, also launched Suhail Priority Banking Services, a premier banking service offering customers personalized relationship management and a host of exclusive products and services. Furthermore, NBD offers customers automated banking services, which consist of an internet service (NBD Online), a telebanking facility (NBD Telebank), an SMS based service (NBD Mobile) and an online brokerage trading in UAE shares through its subsidiary, NBD Securities.

NBD also recently established NBD Investment Bank which is its' investment arm operating from DIFC.

With a comprehensive card portfolio that provides an array of benefits, NBD has, over the years, built a wide ATM network as well as Point of Sale terminals in select locations throughout the UAE.

National Bank of Dubai currently has an extensive branch network that includes 39 branches throughout the UAE. In addition, NBD also has a branch in London and Qatar as well as a representative office in Tehran.

© Press Release 2008