Faisal Aqil

'We are a separate unit in the Emirates Bank Group,' explains general manager Faisal Aqil. 'We offer individuals a fully functional bank with 24 hour access, seven days a week, and offer the best deal in the market.

There is no minimum balance requirement, no fees for taking over loans, and we offer the best rates for car loans and credit cards. What we are doing is passing on our low cost of operation to the customer'.

So far more than 20,000 customers have signed up for ME Bank in its soft launch phase. But Mr Aqil is confident that since the official launch at the Gitex computer show in October these numbers will climb higher. But was the Emirates Bank Group not creating a competitor for its own existing banking operations?

'If we did not do it then somebody else would have,' explains Mr Aqil whose meteoric 11-year career with EBG began after graduating in computer science from the UAE University. 'This is the future of banking and now we have to roll out our new branches'.

This means a hectic autumn for ME Bank executives. In the two days before we met branches had opened in the Dubai Men's College and the Dubai Women's College, and the opening of a branch in the new Dnata building on Sheikh Zayed Road was imminent. Many more branches will be added in shopping centres and key locations over the next year.

But ME Bank branches are unlike traditional banks and offer customers PC screens to conduct their banking, free coffee and access to an ATM for cash. And an innovative machine to allow cash deposits is to be installed soon. Cheque deposits will follow. However, with just one member of staff on hand 24 hours a day, this sort of branch is highly cost effective compared with the traditional line-up of bank tellers.

'At Gitex we unveiled our ME loans with the lowest interest rate of 9.9%, ME drive auto loans at 4.75% and ME credit cards with very competitive interest rates,' says Mr Aqil. 'This completes our line-up of banking products and our concept of self-service electronic banking for all'.

ME Bank has also added a simple method of overseas electronic transfer of funds to its services. 'We have the cheapest option available in the UAE for the electronic transfer of funds,' says Mr Aqil. 'You do it yourself with security questions to complete the transfer to anywhere in the world'.

There seems no doubt that the bright and clean new image of the ME Bank will appeal to the younger generation in the UAE. But many other bank account holders may decide to move to this new bank to take advantage of its convenient services and lower cost.

It was back in 1996 that EBG created the first Internet bank with BankNet, now e-banking has moved to a new base with ME Bank and this must be a new standard for the future.