There were quite a few issues however.

Banks in Dubai

A few links to banks’ websites. There are more banks, these are the most branded ones which you can see at every corner.

International banks in Dubai

• ABN Amro
• Citibank
• Habib Bank AG Zurich
• HSBC
• Saxo Bank
• Standard Chartered

Local banks in Dubai

• Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
• Commercial Bank of Dubai
• Dubai Bank
• Emirates NDB
• First Gulf Bank
• Mashreq
• NOOR Islamic Bank

Bank cheques in Dubai

In Dubai a lot of payments are done with cheques (for example rent is usually paid with a cheque). I had not used any bank cheques before I moved here, so using them was a new experience for me.

Your salary or other payments may be made in cheques. To get cash, you will have to go to a bank to encash it. To deposit a cheque into your bank account you will need to go to a bank, use an ATM or use a special cheque deposit machine available in all shopping malls.

To pay with cheque you need a cheque-book. I am not sure if all banks give it with an account by default, my bank does. Paying with a cheque is simple, just fill a blank cheque in.

Loans in Dubai

It is very easy to get a loan in Dubai. To get some money for your own or to finance a car you just need to provide some basic documents like a payslip and a passport copy.

My car finance was secured in less than 24 hours. The dealer called the bank (the same bank I’ve got an account with), they called me and the next day I drove my new car home.

The issues I had

• It took me about a week to get hold of the personal manager working with my company. He missed the appointment time a few times. Finally, I was waiting for him to come at X o’clock. At X:10 I called him and asked where the heck he is. He told me something in an excusing tone (as always btw). I asked him what the name of his boss is. He said he would come in 5 minutes. He did come in 10 or 15 minutes, and we got everything done.
• I asked the guy to issue 2 ATM cards – one for me and another one for my wife. My wife’s card was never issued although I called him a few times and was promised to be sent a card in a week or so. Finally, I just gave up.
• The bank issued 4 (!!) credit cards. Visa and MasterCard for me and for my wife, but I only asked for one MasterCard for myself. After a few calls he finally came to me and we destroyed the Visas. He said the associated account would be closed in a couple of days. It is still open and next year I may be charged for it unless I go to the bank and close it.
• “No! Forget my number, I will not work with your bank! All the best!” It was my boss on the phone with the same guy… Didn’t sound good. He decided to open an account in another bank after the bank’s manager didn’t come for the n-th time.

Later the bank’s customer service representative called me asking to convert my account into an Islamic banking account (read what it is on wikipedia). After I confirmed the operation, she asked me if I have anything to say about the service. In the beginning of our conversation, she told me that the call is recorded. So, I did have a lot to say.

It appeared that everything that the bank guy promised to me was something that he could not actually do and I had to go to a bank’s branch personally. Fair enough but it meant the guy was completely incompetent…

I never worked with local banks. My boss and another colleague did. Having denied the company’s preferred bank because of the poor service, they went to one of the leading local banks. They’ve got the same service issues with it though.