JEDDAH, 18 December 2007 — The National Commercial Bank (NCB) has provided SR3 billion through its 18 branches and 1,200 ATMs across Saudi Arabia and has also extended its working hours at seven branches in Makkah and Madinah, aside from opening seven seasonal offices to serve both land and sea pilgrims this Haj season.

AlSharif Khalid Al-Ghalib, head of the bank’s individual banking sector, said in a statement yesterday that its technical and human resource requirements had been geared up to meet its obligations to serve its customers, particularly ATMs during the weeklong Haj holiday from today.

He said he expected the bank’s customers to withdraw about SR3 billion mostly through ATMs and working branches, which is an increase of 18 percent over last year. “Based on past experience, we expect about 2.5 million transactions, an increase of 16 percent over last year,” he added.

On additional bank services offered to its customers, whose numbers exceed two million during the Eid Al-Adha holiday, Al-Ghalib added that the telephone service would allow all banking operations such as account conversions, balance inquiries and payment of bills.

Ayman Al-Tayyar, the bank’s head of Islamic branch network division, said the network of the bank’s branches operating during the holiday would cover different areas and cities of the Kingdom in addition to the branches at international airports, which operate around the clock in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam, backed by a bank system of alternative service channels.

The branches that will operate during the holiday are Makkah main, Makkah Gate, Sixty Street and King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah. Riyadh’s working branches are in Airport Road, Al-Suwaydi District, Al-Muhamadiya district and King Khaled International Airport. Dhahran branches include King Fahd International Airport. Elsewhere working branches include those in Sultana Street in Madinah, Tabuk Main, Baha, Industry at Khamis Mushayit, Areesa in Najran and Jizan Main.

In March this year, NCB has been presented with the “Best Electronic Trading Services Award in GCC” at 2nd Capital Markets Forum held in Dubai.

NCB is considered to be the Kingdom’s most trusted and forward-looking investment partner with almost three decades of experience. It became the first Saudi bank to develop mutual funds for investors. In 1979, it launched the Kingdom’s first investment fund.

thinking of my team. At NCB our long and unmatched experience of meeting the needs of our Saudi customers has enabled us to tailor our electronic trading services to exactly what they want — a user-friendly online service and an easy to use IVR telephone service — both of which can be accessed anywhere at anytime.’

NCB Brokerage offers various ways of trading including customer lounges, telephone and fax trading, through IVR, and an online tadawul service which was recently relaunched with advanced features called Tadawul Plus. “With Plus the interface and speed of connection have been considerably improved and a number of new features have been added making Tadawul Plus an even more user friendly tool.”

NCB is considered to be the Kingdom’s most trusted and forward-looking investment partner with almost three decades of experience going back to 1979 when it became the first Saudi bank to develop mutual funds for investors, the year in which it launched the Kingdom’s first investment fund.