MANAMA, BAHRAIN – 12 April 2014 – More than five million dollars in prize money has been distributed to more than four thousand winners since Ithmaar Bank, a Bahrain-based Islamic retail bank, launched Thimaar, a prize-based saving account, in September 2010.

Thimaar, Arabic for fruits or harvest, is a Sharia-compliant account designed to encourage people to adopt a more responsible spending/saving pattern by offering cash prizes, along with an expected profit rate and other benefits, as additional incentives to save. The Account, which offers best in kind incentives, was re-launched to offer even bigger prizes to even more winners.

The new Thimaar offers more than $2,000,000 in prize money to a total of 3,000 winners, with four grand prizes of $100,000 each, 1,600 Thimaar Junior winners and 400 Eid winners. Since the new Thimaar was re-launched last October, a total of $650,000 in prizes have been presented to more than 700 winners.

“Ithmaar Bank is committed to becoming the region’s premier Islamic retail bank,” said Ithmaar Bank General Manager, Retail and Private Banking, Abdul Hakeem Al Mutawa. “In line with that commitment, we are continuously improving our products and services to ensure we remain the Islamic retail bank of choice among the people of Bahrain,” he said.

“We are also resolutely committed to growing closer to our customers,” said Al Mutawa. “We listen to what they have to say and we pay close attention to their needs – and we try to tailor our offerings to meet their specific requirements,” he said.

“The Thimaar Account, for example, has already brought a lot of joy to a lot of our customers,” said Al Mutawa. “It has also contributed to improving established spending/saving patterns among many, many more of our customers and, in doing so, has succeeded in one of its key objectives. I am confident that the improved Thimaar, with bigger prizes and more winners, will continue this trend,” he said.

Thimaar, which offers customers a chance to win one of 3,000 prizes totalling $2,000,000, for every BD50 deposited, also provides free life cover as well as anticipated monthly profit. Ithmaar Bank also holds additional draws for Thimaar accounts opened for children younger than 18 years old. In addition to entering the regular Thimaar draws, minor account holders also have a chance to win 1,200 prizes totalling $240,000 in the Junior Monthly draws and 400 prizes totalling $80,000 in the Junior Eid draws.

In the latest Thimaar draw, which was held last week at Ithmaar Bank’s headquarters, Bahraini Maryam Al Balooshi won the USD100,000 Quarterly Prize. In the same draw, which was held under the supervision of the internal and external auditors, as well as the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, two Thimaar customers each won a USD5,000 Monthly Prize and eighty one Thimaar customers each won a USD1,000 Monthly Prize. One hundred Thimaar Junior Account holders each also won a USD200 Junior Prize.