JEDDAH, 6 July 2005 — Bank Al-Jazira’s women’s division has brought success to the company and has helped many women to become aware of financial planning. In January this year, Bank Al-Jazira’s women’s division introduced Shariah-compliant savings programs. The programs offered are not only intended to give customers investment opportunities but also to assist women with savings.
Nabilaa Taib, the division manager spoke to Arab News about increasing women’s awareness. “Unfortunately not many women are aware of the money spent and the savings they could enjoy. That is why we send our employees to schools, hospitals and houses to make presentations whenever possible.”
Bank Al-Jazira is one of the premier banks in Saudi Arabia in providing innovative Islamic financial solutions. The bank’s latest program, “Takaful Ta’awuni”, is a system of mutual cooperation for financial assistance and protection. Each subscriber to the service is able to create a solid financial protection and savings plan for herself and her family. “Takaful” refers to taking care of one’s needs while “Ta’awuni” is the mutual assistance. The bank welcomes locals as well as expatriates and participants have the opportunity to choose from a number of different plans; there is an Education Plan, a Marriage Plan, a Waqf Plan, a Women’s Flexible Savings Plan, a Retirement Plan and a Protection Plan.
What makes this special is that customers are not obliged to open a bank account. The bank will automatically accept the amount of money agreed on from any other bank according to the type of program requested. In addition, a woman may enroll in a plan without having her guardian’s consent. They have only to show proof of income from an employers. The target customers are women who work but other women are also eligible. Prior to accepting a new customer, there are some requirements which must be met. Some of them include age, income, expenses and state of health.
The division manager explained, “All the women here are Saudis. They were trained to start working in January 2005. They are doing a great job bringing success to this company. More than 90 percent of the women they visited agreed to the offer and participated in least one of our programs.” The manager confirmed that many women had been surprised by the results of financial planning. “Even I, when I started, had not idea of how much money I could save for my family and me. I have now informed my children since they need to know at present rather than when it is too late.”
She added that the most popular plans were the education and marriage ones. “Because insurance is a new idea here, it is the least subscribed to but the younger generation have shown some real interest.”
