'Smart' UAE bank to charge for paper credit card statements

In line with the UAE government’s mGovernment and eGovernment drives that have seen hundreds of government departments go paperless, UAE banks are now following the example.

Starting next week, Dubai-based Emirates NBD bank will stop issuing paper statements for its credit cards, and will send the same via email to its customers.

An SMS sent to its customers said that that the Dubai’s largest lender will still send paper statements if customers chose, but that it will levy a charge for the monthly paper statement.

“Effective 1 June 2015, you will receive your credit card statements via email. If you require a paper statement, please subscribe via online banking. Dh5 will be charged per paper statement per month,” reads the SMS send by the bank to its customers.

In its Credit Card Services and Price Guide, the bank has incorporated paper statement fee of Dh5 in its “Other fees and charges” for customers using Gold/Titanium, Platinum, Infinite, Go4it Gold/Platinum, Manchester United Titanium, Dnata Platinum/World, Skywards Infinite/Signature, Business Rewards and Supplementary Cards.

Dubai’s largest lender said in its annual statement that the cards business witnessed strong growth contributed by demand for existing partnership products such as Skywards and Nol and new launches including the Manchester United suite of products.

The division also strengthened its leadership in driving debit card spends and generating a new source of income by replacing cash in circulation.

Driven by credit cards, the bank’s loans book grew 11 per cent in 2014 to reach Dh30.3 billion, achieving above market growth rates.

Emirates NBD made a net profit of Dh1.67 billion in the three months to March 31 as compared to Dh1.04 billion in the same period of 2014, an increase of 60 per cent.

The UAE-based banks credit card business has been faring well, helping them improving their profitability.

Anil Wadhwani, chief executive of consumer and commercial banking for Citigroup in EMEA, told Reuters that the lender has experienced growth in credit card acquisitions in the UAE of 2.5 times over the past year.

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