Dubai – 3rd October 2011: SHUAA Capital, the leading financial services institution in the GCC, and National Bonds Corporation PJSC, the UAE’s leading Shariah-compliant savings scheme with over AED 5 billion under management, announced today that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a strategic alliance. As part of the alliance, both parties will launch a number of initiatives to expand their respective customer bases and further National Bonds’ mission of promoting a culture of savings in the UAE and wider GCC.

Under the terms of the agreement, SHUAA Capital and its associated companies will provide financial advisory, brokerage, and investment management services to National Bonds in the United Arab Emirates and the broader Middle East and North Africa region.

His Highness Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Al Maktoum, Chairman of SHUAA Capital said: “We are pleased and honored to have been selected as a strategic partner of National Bonds. We are fully committed to providing National Bonds and its customers with excellence in investment management and in customer service,.” His Highness added: “We have built a strong asset management team that consistently delivers top performance. We are confident that an expanding mandate will further benefit the customers of both SHUAA Capital and National Bonds.”

“The alliance between our two leading financial institutions in the UAE is another important step towards becoming everyone’s favorite place to save and invest,” said Mr.Khalifa Al Daboos, Chairman of National Bonds Corporation PJCS. He added: “The establishment of this strategic alliance will also complement our ongoing efforts not only to establish a savings culture in the region, but also to help some of our clients shift from risk exposure investments to risk control. SHUAA Capital has an extensive experience in the region, a good investment track record and ability to consistently outperform benchmarks and peers despite the challenging market environment. It is just as important to us that our partner has a rigorous corporate governance and risk management process in place.”

The strategic alliance includes other areas of cooperation between SHUAA Capital and National Bonds which will be announced in the near future.

-Ends-