Your Dubai Guide
Your source of information relating to
Dubai
Opening a bank account
There
a number of bank accounts as well as banks to choose from for you to open your
bank account. The local banks are mostly the Islamic banks that operate as per
the Islamic regulations whereas the multinational banks such as Citibank, ABN Amro, Barclays, etc. operate as per international
regulations.
For
an expatriate to open a normal account one needs a residence visa as well as a
letter from the sponsor. There is normally a minimum balance to maintain and if
your balance goes below the minimum balance a service levy is charged. Cheques
are normally issued free of cost.
Most
of the banks have tied up with visa or MasterCard to provide internationally
valid debit and credit cards. In case of debit cards they are issued free to
their customers whereas credit cards have a onetime and/or an annual charge. Certain
banks such as RAK as well as ABN Amro offer a life
time free bank.
Most
of the banks offer online banking and payment of bills which is convenient way
of clearing your bills rather than venturing out in the chaos in the streets of
Dubai due the traffic.
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