The United Bank launched a unique banking packages compliant with sharia law for businessmen, media men and journalists, as part of its continuous cooperation with the Egyptian syndicate of journalists with the aim of improving media through providing training and modern technological applications. Mohamed Ashmawy, chairman of the bank, expressed his delight over the fruitful and continuous cooperation with the journalists and media men. The United Bank offers varied financing packages called (Rakha') or Prosperity compliant with sharia law through the bank's 45 branches spread across Egypt, said Ashmawy. The bank offers Rakha' Card, the first sharia-compliant credit card in Egypt, and Diyar service, the first sharia-complaint mortgage service in Egypt. In addition, the bank offers a unique group of sharia-compliant savings deposits and accounts with high returns including the five-year and three-year certificates in Egyptian and dollar currencies. There is also the Millionaire certificate which provides 32 chances of winning EGP 4 million annually. Journalists subscribed to the service will be given these certificates. Besides, Ashmawy said the bank offers the educational loan in order to provide parents with the opportunity to send their children to high-quality schools. In addition, the bank offers financing programs for people who want to pay for subscriptions to sports clubs such as Wadi Degla club, Petrosport club and Acacia club by installments. Additionally, the bank's Intilaqa services offers sharia-complaint finances to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for businessmen who want to expand their investments and projects and those who want to start a media business. It is worth mentioning that such cooperation between the United Bank and media men is not the first one as the bank realize that the reasons behind its success is supporting journalism and media. Some students at the Faculty of Mass Communication in Cairo University have taken the United Bank's strategies and applications as an example in their graduation project in 2007. The graduation project has demonstrated how media has played a key role in spreading enlightenment inside the institution, in addition to creating harmony among employees to improve their performance as well as offering new products which are satisfying Egyptian and Arab customers.
