Dubai’s Emirates NBD signs MoU with Bank Leumi Le-Israel

Dubai-based lender Emirates NBD and Israel’s Bank Leumi Le-Israel signed an MoU on September 16.

The signing, which marks Emirates NBD’s second agreement with an Israeli bank, forms the beginning of a broader alliance between the UAE and Israel to further peace and promote sustainable development. This week, Emirates NBD also igned an MoU with Israel’s Bank Hapoalim.

Read: Dubai’s Emirates NBD enters into MoU with Israel’s Bank Hapoalim

Bank Leumi previously served as the central bank of Israel until 1954, and currently holds an approximate 30 per cent market share in the Israeli banking system.

.@EmiratesNBD_AE, a leading banking group in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey region signs an MoU with Bank Leumi Le-Israel, one of Israel’s leading banks,. #Dubai https://t.co/aUBykbpZZ1 pic.twitter.com/OGdNJNGqRd

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) September 16, 2020

Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, vice chairman and managing director of Emirates NBD, said: “We look forward to working together with Bank Leumi to explore areas of mutual economic and commercial cooperation. Our agreement demonstrates a further strengthening of our relationship with Israel’s banking industry, which will benefit our brand, our clients and the UAE economy, through new business and trade opportunities.”

“We congratulate Israel’s government for the breakthrough in strengthening our relations with the UAE. However, now is the time for implementation and for opening the economic channels that will ensure the realisation of the enormous potential between the two countries. The agreement signed today with Emirates NBD is building the foundations on which future large-scale cooperation between the business sectors of Israel and the UAE will emerge,” commented Dr. Samer Haj-Yehia, chairman of Bank Leumi.

Read: Emirates NBD posts 45% dip in net profit for H1 2020

UAE’s First Abu Dhabi Bank tweeted earlier this month confirming that it too was planning on talks with Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi.

Read more: First Abu Dhabi Bank to start talks with Israeli lenders

On September 15, the UAE signed a landmark peace agreement with Israel at the White House, to establish full diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

Also read: UAE, Bahrain sign historic peace accord with Israel in the US