Arab Bank is also the bank that was the very first privately held bank in the whole MENA region, which basically means the whole Arabic world.
The story of Arab Bank is really fairy tale story starting in the end of the nineteenth century with one man who has established one of the world biggest banks which is definitely the bank with the biggest international webs all around the world, typically for Arabic people and expats but not closing out international clientele either. Arab Bank has a fair presence on the Dubai financial market, holding Dubai as one of their most important financial bastions.
Arab Bank was founded in Jerusalem Palestine but has later transferred to Jordan, Amman as for its headquarters because of the worsening political situations in the area. Arab bank has approximately 500 branches in 5 continents in more than 30 countries as of now. Arab bank was founded by Abdul Hamid Shoman who left Palestine, made a great business career in the United States, then returned to start to make his dream to come true, to establish a united Arabic bank system which would help Arabic investments, Arabic organizations all around the world. The bank is still privately held and it’s led by the third generation of Shomans. The banks central branches are located in London, New York, Dubai, Singapore, Zurich, Paris, Frankfurt, Sydney and Bahrain, of course excluding its headquarters. The Arab Bank was the first Arabic Bank ever to open its branch in Switzerland. It has also notable branches in Turkey and in Sudan, which is one of the latest branches of the bank. Arabic Bank has a capital base of 5, 5 Billion US Dollars and another 50 Billion USD held in assets.
Arab Bank works in every fields of banking, which mainly cover Consumer Banking, Corporate Banking, Investment Banking and AB Private Banking and Treasury. The bank serves individuals, corporations, governmental agencies and all the other financial institutions. Arab Bank has become one of the most popular banks ever because of its great reputation of never refusing any payments for anyone. The great appreciation of the bank has also made it the target of the Israeli Army, which has accused the bank to help terrorist and terrorist organizations. As Arab Bank has resisted commenting on any such involvement, the case is still open, and it is on the court. However, with this huge pressure too, the bank could remain dynamic and it continues with its financial services just as before with the same success.
Arab bank has also been known as the main catalyst of several Arabic projects with which it has helped in basically almost every Arabic countries from the Middle East to the Northern African region. The charity work of Arab Bank is also very well known. The Bank has given a lot of money for the establishing of schools and Mr. Shoman has also donated 600.000 USD for the building of a teachers’ college in his birth village Beit Hanina.
The headquarters of Arab Bank in Dubai can be found on the Ittihad street by Dnata, the bank also has a Sheikh Zayed Road branch by the Business Bay. Outside of Dubai, branches of Arab Bank can be found in Sharjah, Al Ain, Fujairah and Abu Dhabi.