Sharjah Islamic Bank inaugurates first A.T.M. in the GCC to service people with special needs

A celebration of this occasion was held at the Club in the presence of His Excellency Tariq Bin Khadim, Chairman of BOD of Al Thiqa Club for Handicapped persons, and Mr. Abdulnasser Al Midfa Head of Real Estate Finance Department, and a number of Bank and club officials.

As with many countries around the world, issues of accessibility have taken center stage in the UAE.

It is worth mentioning that, on April 4, 2008, the UAE ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which will take effect at the beginning of May, next month.

The UAE was one of the first twenty countries to ratify the convention out of the 192 UN member states.

The convention aims to ensure equal rights to the 650 million disabled people across the world by making it mandatory to ensure equal rights to disabled people at work and in education, social, political and economic life.

The new A.T.M. is located at the entrance to the main Hall of the Al Thiqa club in Muweileh Commercial Area, Sharjah. Mr. Mohammed Abdullah Chief Executive Officer of Sharjah Islamic Bank, stressed that SIB was eager to more widely adopt these machines as part of the Bank's efforts to provide innovative Banking solutions and serve all sectors of the community, inclusive of people with special needs.

He added that during the pre-launch period of the new A.T.M., the Bank closely studied all of the various needs of users in wheel chairs, particularly regarding the height of the machine and display panel, as well as the dimensions required to smoothly operate a wheel chair in, out and around these new machines, to ensure the most convenient use of the new machines by people with special needs.

Mohamed Abdullah stressed that Sharjah Islamic Bank will, as always, continue to give special attention to the requirements of people with special needs within our overall commitment to community and social services.

Mr. Mohammed Abdullah thanked the Board of Directors of the Thiqa Club for their response to the proposed idea of installing a handicap
accessible ATM in their facility, and also for their cooperation which contributed greatly to its installation.

In response, His Excellency Tariq Sultan Bin Khadim, Chairman of Al Thiqa Club for Handicapped in Sharjah praised the initiative of Sharjah Islamic Bank to provide this innovative new service.

He reiterated that the Al Thiqa Club is keen to support all such initiatives in the community which are capable of better serving the sector of people with special needs.

Regarding future views of the Project, Qassim Al Baloushi, Head of Electronic Channels in Sharjah Islamic Bank, stated that the introduction of the adapted ATM's was the first step in spreading such consumer friendly machines at various places across the U.A.E.

Mr. Al Baloushi confirmed that the new ATM is able to conduct all of the usual functions of traditional ATM including cash withdrawal, provision of data about accounts, payment of charitable donations as well as other services which will be soon added, including printable account statements, payment options for Etisalat bills and Water and Electricity bills, and the recharge and renewal of mobile phone contracts.