Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

Hello Fellow forum members,

I was wondering if you could help me out with your expertise regarding banks located in Dubai?

Im moving to dubai shortly and want to shift from my scandinavian bank to another.

The first question is if i should choose an international bank or a local bank?
I will be traveling alot and need to access the bank when traveling obviously, but i will be based in Dubai.Also I would like to move my stock portfolio for tax reasons so both stocks, saved money and salary goes through the same bank.

I have heard from several people that HSBC isnt very good in dubai out of both a service aspect and location wise since its hard to get there physically due to traffic. confirm this please if you have had that experience.

Any help would be appreciated.

I wouldn't recommend HSBC (especially Media City branch). I and my colleagues travel a lot. My colleagues have experienced difficulties like transferring the money to their home country, etc. Too many procedures (you have to fill in authorization letters for transfer limit, etc etc). They send 3 credit cards (Visa, MC, Geant La Carte) where they didn't ask (and they're not free). They say it's free/cheaper to get the money from HSBC ATM in other country, but apparently the same when getting in other ATM too. Incompetent marketing staff & manager.

When you're in town. Maybe Ok. But I wouldn't recommend if you're traveling.

I have no problem with NBD since 2004. Since I'm traveling, I use the Internet banking a lot to pay bills and transfer in/out of the country. Got check book and free Gold credit cards for life (only when you open Gold salary account). The fees (transfer) is a little more expensive though (+20 AED) than HSBC. But I wouldn't mind for better service. Yet, since it's second largest local bank in UAE, there are plenty of ATM. And it seems they have choices of multi currency savings and fixed deposit. Don't know much about stock though.

I can't commet about other banks but I would advise you to avoid Mashreq! Terrible service! Will be changing from them to NBD or RAK Bank asap!

thanks for the help

My wife and I bank with HSBC. Never had a problem. Never even had to visit the branch. Get everything done over the phone and the internet.