More women are securing their children's future

Commenting on the results, Mr. Ricky Madan, Vice President, Dubai Bank said: "We are delighted with the impressive uptake of this innovative product and pleased that the statistics reveal that nearly half of those are UAE national women. More and more are taking a leading role in managing and protecting the future of their children."

Launched in September 2002, Dubai Bank's Children's Plan was the first of its kind for the banking industry. It allowed customers to secure their children's educational future through the flexibility of selecting from a range of tenure options starting from a minimum of 5 years, up to a maximum 21 years. The Plan further distinguishes itself by offering customers assured capital protection and a minimum rate of return, along with the option of full insurance cover.

"The demand for our products has been extremely high and it is good to see similar products to ours being introduced. This clearly illustrates that we are forcing banks to compete with us. By raising standards we are also helping to increase the levels of customer satisfaction through value added benefits.

Offering a range of payment options, contributions to the Children's Plan can be made in installments, or through lump-sum payments at any time either at the beginning or during the plan. The regular monthly contributions can be increased or decreased at any time and there is no penalty levied for reducing contributions.

Dubai Bank's Children's Plan can also be used as a simple regular savings plan for wealth building and retirement planning. The customer also has the option of buying an insurance cover on the goal amount at a minimal cost. In case of untimely death, the beneficiary will receive all the payments made to date, along with the growth of the investment, and the entire insured goal amount immediately.

While the market does offer insurance linked monthly savings and investment products, most of these are typically long-term plans with tenures of above 10 years, compared to Dubai Bank's plan which starts at five years.

"Unlike other plans, the Children's Plan offers a minimal early surrender penalty of between one and five per cent, mainly to cover administrative costs and is in sharp contrast to other banks which charge a hefty penalty in the case of early surrender. This can penalise the customer up to 50 per cent of the fund value," Mr. Madan, concluded.