Emirates NBD partners with Manchester United Football Club in efforts to expand target market - IFN

Emirates NBD partners with Manchester United Football Club in efforts to expand target market

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GLOBAL: Dubai-based Emirates NBD (ENBD), the parent company of Emirates Islamic Bank, has signed a five-year partnership agreement with Manchester United Football Club (MUFC), launching a new range of MUFC co-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards in the UAE. The bank is said to be targeting MUFC fans aged between 25 to 45 years old in an effort to create customer loyalty within this demographic. The banking market in the UAE is said to be increasingly saturated; pushing banks to search for more innovative means to reach customers. Commenting on the alliance, Suvo Sarkar, the general manager of retail banking at ENBD, said: “Manchester United has more than 750,000 followers in the UAE alone. This launch is in line with our business strategy extending innovative market leading products and services to our clients.” Under the new project, ENBD customers are entitled to a rewards program in which they are able to collect points and exchange it for MUFC’s official merchandise as well as win packages to their football matches. Malaysia-based financial institution Maybank also contracted into a similar venture with MUFC in trying to reach out to its customers. Football clubs and motorsports are becoming a more popular choice for tie-ups among financial institutions from the Middle East. Just recently, First Gulf Bank partnered with Manchester City Football Club introducing an official credit card under the club’s flagship, while United Arab Bank also announced a three-year official affiliation with FC Barcelona. ENBD, owned by Investment Corporation of Dubai, has reported robust financial earnings for the first half of 2013, making it Dubai’s largest bank by assets presently. The bank witnessed a 40% hike in second-quarter net profits to AED971.6 million (US$264.49 million) from the corresponding period last year. Earlier this year, ENBD integrated Dubai Bank into its Islamic subsidiary, Emirates Islamic Bank, which saw encouraging growth in net profits for its Islamic banking arm to AED115 million (US$31.3 million) from a net loss of AED91 million (US$24.77 million) in the same period last year.