MANAMA: Bahraini Suad Mohammed Al Saad literally took home a bag of gold after winning Ithmaar Bank’s second monthly draw for its enhanced prize-based savings account, Thimaar.
Suad was presented a bag of 25 gold coins, each of eight grams, by Ithmaar Bank General Manager Retail and Private Banking, Abdul Hakeem Al Mutawa, while another 82 Thimaar account holders also won USD1,000 each as part of the monthly draw for a total prize purse of 200 grams of gold and USD82,000 in cash. The draw, which was held at the Ithmaar Bank headquarters under the supervision of a Ministry of Industry and Commerce representative as well as internal auditors and external supervisors, BDO (Bahrain), is the second to be held as part of Ithmaar Bank’s enhanced new Thimaar Account offering.
“This was very interesting once a life-time experience,” said Suad. “I’ve never won a bag of gold before – and I don’t know of anyone who ever has,” she said.
“I was delighted to receive a call from Ithmaar Bank informing me that I’ve won a bag of gold,” said Suad. “I have never won a Thimaar prize before, and I was very excited that my prayers were answered as I knew they would be,” she said.
“I started saving with Thimaar since it was first introduced, and I plan to contribute part of the prize towards helping build a mosque,” said Suad. “This month is a double celebration for me: the National Day, and the Thimaar prize,” she said.
The new Thimaar Account is the only saving scheme in Bahrain that offers both gold and cash prizes, as well as anticipated profit rates and free life takaful, as an added incentive to save. Over the next year, a total 3,540 winners will win cash and gold prizes of more than $2,000,000.
“Ithmaar Bank is committed to becoming one of the region’s premier Islamic retail banks,” said Al Mutawa. “To do so, we recognise the need to continuously improve our products and services. When we launched Thimaar in 2010, for example, we are adhering to our plan to add to it each year with more benefits to our customers. In doing so, we reinforce our commitment both to improving our customer offerings, and to contributing to the growth and prosperity of our communities,” he said.
“We choose the “Gold Rush” theme for the new phase of Thimaar, and incorporated not only cash prizes but also a full kilogram of gold coins that customers can choose to keep as an investment,” said Al Mutawa.
“We believe that no one is too young to start learning about the importance and value of money and Thimaar Junior account, another first of its kind in Bahrain, offers additional prizes for accounts opened for minors under the age of 18 years as an added incentive. This, we believe, provides a unique savings offering for children and helps in developing lasting relationships with the Bank,” he said.
The enhanced Thimaar Account offers more than USD2,000,000 million in gold and cash prizes with 996 monthly winners, four quarterly winners and 500 Eid winners, as well as 1,440 Junior monthly winners and 600 Eid Junior winners. Customers with a balance of BD50 and above in the Thimaar Account are eligible to participate in the monthly, quarterly and Eid draws. This is in addition, of course, to free life cover and anticipated monthly profit for all Thimaar customers.