Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

Any opinions on the best banks to hold a current and/or savings account with? Any bank have particularly good/bad customer service? Any account have particularly useful or cost-saving features?

I am not sure i can give you the best answer, but I have heard that the National Bank of Abu Dhabi is fast and provides good cutomer service, online banking, etc. Your check books and bank cards will be ready within 2 days. You do not need a salary certificate. MIND that for depositing cash in Euro or USD they will charge you 1% of the sum. For other bank transactions they do not charge. So if you want also to open and Euro account just transfer the money from your home account. That's all I know from my little experience in Dubai.

I am satisfied with MEBank/Emirates Bank. Not sure why they have TWO names. Their online banking system is good, but they have stupid fees when cashing foreign cheques. Plus they have ATMS all over the place.

Happy with NBD. Opened Gold Payroll Account few years back.

- No minimum balance
- Visa Electron cum ATM card that proven to be used in other countries to get cash and pay as debit card (believe me, my previous Bahrain-based HSBC ATM & Plus network didn't work)
- Free for life Gold credit cards (no annual fee)
- Checkbook
- Good internet banking (credit card, phone, and utility bill payment; transfer out of the country, etc)
- ATM everywhere (second largest bank in UAE)

One bad thing: the customer service (call center & internet banking)!

Thanks for your replies. I've gone with Emirates/MEBank (for no particular reason - my conclusion was that there's not a huge amount of difference between the leading local banks).