Sinnad inaugurates new offices

Notes and media contacts

About Sinnad
Sinnad- Network International & The Benefit Company Joint Venture provides third- party card processing and ATM services and solutions for banks and financial institutions in Bahrain and the wider GCC

About Network International
Established in 1994, Network International LLC is one of the leading payment solutions providers in the Gulf and Middle East Region geared to meet the needs of Banks, Financial institutions, and large and individual retailers. It is a Principal Member of Visa Inc. and MasterCard International offering customers the most comprehensive range of payment products and services in the Gulf and MENA region for both the Issuing and Acquiring segment of the card payment industry.
Network International is the first independent vendor certified by both Visa & MasterCard for card payments in the Middle East. It is UAE's largest payment acquirer for Credit & Debit Cards and the largest third-party processing vendor which is capable of providing banks, the retail industry and financial institutions with complete EMV certified solutions as they migrate to EMV Smart Card technology.
About The Benefit Company

BENEFIT was established in November 1997,in Bahrain by 17 commercial banks which represented all the retail banks. Currently, BENEFIT is owned by 14 commercial banks due to mergers and acquisitions. Those banks are the sole shareholders in the company. Currently, Benefit's member banks stand at 23 with the shareholders banks as follows:

• National Bank of Bahrain
• Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait
• Ahli United Bank
• Standard Chartered Bank
• HSBC
• Bahrain Islamic Bank
• CITI Bank
• Bahraini Saudi Bank
• Bank Muscat International
• Arab Bank
• Future Bank
• Shamil Bank of Bahrain
• Habib Bank
• United Bank Limited
The company is licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, under a special license, as a "Provider of Ancillary Services to the Financial Sector'. Benefit offers a number of electronic services where Financial Institutions and their customers can conduct their banking transactions on their own preferred choice of channel at their own convenience. Main services:

• National ATM/POS Network Switch
• Benefit-Gateway 'Electronic Online Payment Gateway'
• National bulk payments (Direct Debit) Service
• Internet Banking shared platform
• Bill Payment for the mobile operators

Today, any Financial Institution member at Benefit can offer the above mentioned services to their Merchants, Corporate or individual customers. As part of BENEFIT's continuous attempt to provide service of value adding to the financial sector it launched the Credit Reference Bureau which added major benefits to the financial community wellbeing.

For more information please contact:

Ibrahim Soweidan
Head- Group External Communications
Emirates NBD
Direct: +971 - 4 - 609 4113
Fax: +971 - 4 - 223 0031

Ramy Lawand
Assistant Manager - Group External Communications
Emirates NBD
Direct: +971 - 4 - 201 2204
Fax: +971 - 4 - 223 0031