Doha, 2 July 2008 - Qatar Shell (Shell) and International Bank Qatar (IBQ) today announced that IBQ is to provide its award-winning customer service banking to the residents of Pearl Village, the accommodation complex for the Pearl Gas to Liquids (GTL) project in Ras Laffan Industrial City.
The banking service will be the first all-inclusive banking service provided within the Shell Pearl Village in Ras Laffan workers' camp. IBQ will provide ATMs for cash deposits and withdrawals, plus facilities for international money transfers, opening of accounts, and applying for personal, vehicle and mortgages loans. The IBQ branch will be open six days a week with extensive operating hours.
The 170-hectare Pearl Village is designed to meet rigorous standards for sanitation, health, safety, catering, recreation, IT, mosque, financial services and commerce for a housing development of this nature. At the heart of Pearl Village is the Al Muntazah Recreation Area, which includes extensive sport facilities, a safety-training centre, an outdoor cinema, and a park. The Pearl Village was officially opened on 25 May 2008 by Mr. Fahad Hamad Al-Mohannadi, General Manager of Electricity and Water Company, acting on behalf of Qatar's Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy His Excellency Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, and Mrs. Linda Cook, Executive Director of Royal Dutch Shell.
The workers on Pearl GTL represent a global community, with residents from more than 50 countries. There are currently over 25,000 workers on-site and the numbers will peak at more than 35,000 by around the end of this year.
The new branch is part of IBQ's strategy for growth based on increasing accessibility and convenience for customers. It is one of a number of branches that will be opened across Qatar in the coming months. The new banking area will be fully compliant with Ras Laffan Industrial City's stringent safety and security regulations.
Andy Brown, Country Chairman of Shell in Qatar and Managing Director of Pearl GTL said: With more than 50 nationalities living in the Pearl Village, we are creating a truly international community with a large number of facilities available for everyone to use."
George Nasra, Managing Director of IBQ said, "We are extremely pleased to be opening this new branch in Ras Laffan Industrial City and look forward to providing the workers and contractors of the Pearl GTL project with the best customer service and the banking operations they need. We can provide complete banking solutions to cater for the financial needs of the expatriate community in Qatar - many of the staff already use our services at other branches. Our customer services are second to none and we recently won The Banker Middle East Magazine award for best customer service in the Middle East for 2008 as testament to that fact."
