Manama: Ali Ameeri, a retired Bahraini father of three, won Ithmaar Bank’s second US$200,000 Thimaar Grand Prize.
The Thimaar Grand Prize draw was held at the Bank’s headquarters in Seef and, as part of national efforts to help contain the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, remotely coordinated and supervised by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism (MOICT) as well as external auditors BDO Bahrain and the Bank’s own internal auditors.
“I am excited to have won the second Thimaar grand prize of the year, which will surely change my life. In these difficult times, this is very welcome news indeed,” said Ali Ameeri. “When I received the call from the Bank, I couldn’t believe that it’s true. I did not expect to hear such great news, as I have never won a prize this big before – it has made my family and I very happy,” he said.
“I have been banking with Ithmaar Bank for a long time because of its efficient and reliable customer service. Although there is a branch conveniently close to where I live, I tend to rely on the Bank’s eBanking services as there is usually no real need to visit the branch and, by banking online, I contribute towards containing COVID-19,” he said.
“On behalf of all of us at Ithmaar Bank, I congratulate Ali Ameeri and his family on winning the second Thimaar Quarterly Prize of the year, as well as all the other Thimaar winners of this month,” Mohammed Janahi, Ithmaar Bank General Manager, Retail Banking Group, said. “Thimaar savings account incentivises saving and investing for the future and we are truly honoured to be part of this journey with our customers,” he said.
“In line with the Bank’s customer-centric commitment to delivering a superior banking service, we are continuously improving our Thimaar savings account,” said Janahi. “This year, to encourage people to adopt a more responsible saving pattern, we added further incentives by offering loyalty prizes as well as introducing additional cash prizes to allow more customers to win the more they save, and the longer they maintain balances in multiples of BD30, the more opportunities they have to win,” he said.
Thimaar, Arabic for fruits or harvest, is prize-based saving account that Ithmaar Bank introduced to help encourage its customers to save. To mark the account’s ten-year anniversary, the Bank announced it is offering more prizes and more chances to win, with over US$ 4 million up for grabs to more than 3,000 winners this year. With this announcement, Ithmaar Bank, will have distributed more than US$ 26 million in prizes to almost 29,000 customers, in the ten years since it launched Thimaar, making it one of the most rewarding saving schemes in Bahrain.
This year’s Thimaar prizes include 100 monthly prizes, three quarterly prizes worth US$200,000 each, and a grand prize worth US$1 million. In appreciation of the Bank’s loyal customers, the Thimaar loyalty draws offer 90 monthly prizes to customers who have not won a prize before. There are also 60 Junior prizes for the Bank’s younger customers. Additionally, this year, Thimaar will distribute prizes to two monthly Elite customers for depositing amounts of BD 50,000 and above.
Along with cash prizes, the Thimaar account offers a profit rate on the balance maintained. Customers are entered into the draws by maintaining a minimum balance of BD 30 in their Thimaar account.
