National Bonds onboards UAB to innovative Al Manassah Platform

National Bonds, the UAE’s leading Sharia-compliant savings and investment company, proudly announces the onboarding of United Arab Bank (UAB) to its innovative Sharia-compliant Al Manassah platform, reflecting National Bonds’ commitment to supporting the UAE’s vision for inclusive economic growth, setting a new standard in Islamic finance.

Since its inception in 2013, Al Manassah Platform has processed Dhs189 billion worth of transactions, with more than Dhs27 billion facilitated in 2023, affirming National Bonds’ efforts to enhance the appeal of Islamic banking and investments and address financial challenges faced by financial institutions while providing a Sharia-compliant alternative.

“We are happy to onboard United Arab Bank to the Al Manassah Platform, which has a proven track record of over 10 years and extensive experience in this field with many banks on board. Leveraging advanced technology, it offers effortless integration and bespoke fintech solutions to partner banks and financial institutions, meeting the unique needs of Islamic finance.” said Mohammed Qasim Al Ali, Group CEO of National Bonds.

Shirish Bhide, Chief Executive Officer of United Arab Bank, said: “In line with the bank’s strategy to strengthen its digital capabilities and Islamic banking product offerings, we are pleased to sign this partnership agreement with the Sukuk Trading Platform “Al Manassah.”

“Al Manassah” is a reliable provider of innovative solutions to liquidity management requirements per the rules and regulations of Islamic Sharia. We are confident of Al Manassah’s ability to provide the necessary flexibility we need in managing all the bank’s Islamic financing operations.”

The wide range of Sharia-compliant products Al Manassah provides underscores National Bonds’ commitment to ethical and socially beneficial financial practices. It offers seamless integration powered by high-end technology to partner banks and financial institutions, providing bespoke fintech solutions tailored to the unique needs of Islamic finance.

National Bonds Corporation is a Sharia-compliant savings and investment company owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, established in 2006. It is licensed and supervised by the Securities and Commodities Authority and is audited by the Dubai Government Audit Department, Sharia Supervisory Board as well as reputable International external auditors.

The company provides UAE nationals, UAE residents, and non-residents with an opportunity to build and fortify their savings safety net, as well as invest in programs that offer competitive returns with lower risk.

Its goal is to encourage disciplined savings habits for people across the 7 Emirates, in line with the UAE Government’s Vision for a financially secure and sustainable future.

National Bonds offers an exciting Dhs35.5 Million Rewards programme to all savers, with monthly and quarterly prizes ranging from Dhs1 million to various luxury cars.

United Arab Bank (UAB) was established in 1975, in the Emirate of Sharjah as a joint venture between key UAE Investors and Societe Generale, and its shares are publicly traded on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).

UAB offers a wide range of Wholesale Banking, Retail Banking, Treasury & Financial Markets, as well as Shari’ah compliant products, services and flexible solutions, to meet the ever-evolving needs of our clients and the markets.

Today, UAB is recognised as one of the few home-grown banks in the UAE, striving to enhance the lives of people by humanising banking through impeccable service and tailored financial support.

Al Manassah by National Bonds is a highly valuable and digital solution for Islamic financial institutions across the globe. It has been designed to address the needs of Shari’a compliant liquidity management and financing (Commodity Murabaha) required for Islamic financial markets.

Al Manassah platform serves as a multi-currency scalable solution that enables banks to use its underlying assets to tailor solutions for their clients’ Islamic finance needs for retail, corporate and treasury businesses. It also offers banks seamless connectivity with built-in efficient controls and real time reconciliation.

Meanwhile National Bonds announced returns of up to 5.84 per cent on saving bonds for 2023 — the highest amount offered by the savings and investment firm in its history. The company said it offered an average of 4.2 per cent return to its investors for 2023.

Residents investing Dhs1 million-plus in saving bonds received 5.84 per cent returns while those who have investments between Dh350,000 and Dhs1 million received 4.22 per cent.

The investment portfolio of National Bonds crossed Dh14 billion and distributed Dh2.9 billion in profit payouts and prizes as of December 2023.

The company also reported a 215-per-cent increase in new savers in 2023 as compared to the previous year.