Emirates NBD has been given the green light by the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates to launch a new consumer finance company under the name of Emirates Money Consumer Finance LLC. The licence will allow Emirates Money to commence operation within the Emirates with immediate effect.
“Emirates Money will redefine the consumer finance market in the region,” said Jamal Bin Ghalaita, Chairman of the Board for Emirates Money and General Manager of Consumer Banking and Wealth Management for Emirates NBD. “Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be launching a range of loan products under the Emirates Money name that we know, through in depth consumer research, will meet a current gap in the market.”
“From a group perspective, establishing a consumer finance company is central to the vision of Emirates NBD to be recognized as the leading and most dynamic financial services provider based in the Middle East,” continued Ghalaita.
Following the Central Bank’s announcement, Emirates Money convened its first meeting of the Board of Directors to define and roll out the strategy for the company.
To advise the fledgling company as it prepares for full scale launch, Emirates Money has appointed a Board comprised of some of the top names in innovative finance. Retail bankers, legal experts, and IT specialists have all been brought in to offer guidance to the company.
Quickly getting to the business at hand during their first meeting, the Board studied and approved the plans that the company has laid out for its expansion into the market over the next three to five years.
“The goal is to establish a company that will meet a current need in the market, offer better quality and more innovative products and services to our customers, and maintain the highest level of transparency in our approach and procedures. I believe we’re on to a winning formula,” said Ghalaita.
About Emirates NBD
Emirates NBD (DFM: ENBD) is the biggest banking group in the Middle East by assets and the biggest banking group in the UAE by market capitalization. The Group has a leading retail banking franchise in the UAE, with over 110 branches and over 474 ATMs. It is a major player in the UAE corporate banking arena, with a combined market share of almost a fifth of corporate loans. It also has strong Islamic banking, investment banking, private banking, asset management and brokerage operations. The Group has operations in the UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Kingdom and Jersey (Channel Islands), and representative offices in India, Iran and Singapore.
The Westin serves up innovative restaurant portfolio
Five-star resort offers array of gastronomic delights
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, 20th July 2008 – The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina offers a dining portfolio to rival the best of Dubai’s eateries, bringing a number of new culinary concepts to the emirate.
The Westin’s new concept dining includes a contemporary grill with open kitchen, international tapas with live entertainment, stylish wine bar and lobby outlets that are wicked in their indulgence.
“We aim to deliver a number of unique dining concepts to the market. Dining at The Westin is refreshing, innovative and, most of all, it is fun,” promised Michael Scully, Complex General Manager, Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina and The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina.
Hunters Room & Grill offers a stylish, contemporary grill with open kitchen, serving the very best meats from around the world; from the finest aged grain-fed beef – Angus, Australian, North American, Brazilian and Argentinean – to superb game.“ Hunters Room & Grill encompasses so many steakhouse traditions, from Argentinean skewers to American broilers, all complemented with a large number of sauces,” Scully explained.
Smart/casual outlet Senyar is the place for night owls looking for nocturnal entertainment. This two-storey bar and restaurant serves international tapas all washed down with speciality beverages. Live entertainment provides the perfect backdrop to a great night out.
Contemporary wine bar Oeno offers class in a glass, with a selection of imported wines, many of which will be exclusive to the five-star resort. Guests can catch an exhilarating wine flight, peruse the cheese room or sample one of a wide range of aperitifs and vintage champagnes.
Spice Emporium promises to wake up any diners’ appetite with an incredible selection of flavours from Asia. This open kitchen restaurant tantalises the senses, as entertainment comes in the form of kitchen theatrics, carefully played out on a stage including roaring woks, dancing grills, teppan, tandoor and steaming baskets.
Another vibrant open kitchen experience awaits at Blue Orange, the hotel’s all-day dining outlet. Serving the freshest food, cooked a la minute, Blue Orange offers cuisines from around the world, from Japanese Sushi to Arabic Mezzah, Chinese Dim Sum to Belgian Waffles.
Meanwhile, lobby cuisine has never looked so good, or been so naughty. The Grand Lobby at The Westin offers a number of outlets, all of which have been designed to complement each other.
The Atrium provides the perfect location for business meetings and chance encounters, serving Afternoon Tea and deli-style food throughout the day. The Atrium also provides service from Jing, The Westin’s resident tea house, and Sin, the aptly named chocolatier.
Jing provides the perfect brew from one of an array of tea caddies sporting exotic delicacies such as Flowering Osmanthus, Organic Dragon Well and Fire Mountain, to traditional flavours such as Earl Grey, English Breakfast and Assam.
Completing the Lobby collection of outlets is The Ultimate Library, where guests can read and relax while away the hours curled up in a comfy chair with a good book and a delicious cup of fresh coffee.
“We have an enormous lobby and the idea is that this space should be the heart and soul of the hotel. The Library Bar houses an impressive collection of literary tomes as well as coffee table books on the Middle East and Arabian culture. We aim to host book releases, readings and book signings, making this outlet a real focus for Dubai’s literati,” said Scully.
Rounding off the food and beverage offering is a number of exotic pool bars, offering informal meals at the water’s edge. The Westin’s pool bars provides the perfect setting for sundowners, with outstanding views of the Arabian Gulf.
“Dubai is fast catching up with leading gastro destinations in Europe and the Far East, and it is our aim to have The Westin and sister property Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina leading the way with innovative new dining concepts and superb service,” said Anthony Ware, Director Food and Beverage for The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina.
“Already, Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina has made a name for itself as one of Dubai’s leading culinary destinations, through outstanding outlets such as Tang, which serves up the very best in molecular gastronomy,” Ware added.
One outlet that has already achieved critical acclaim, and that is leaving Le Meridien’s stable to join The Westin, is famed Italian eatery Bussola, which re-opened in February this year.
The double decker outlet offers a more formal dining experience downstairs, while upstairs, the detached roof pizzeria provides a relaxed and casual family atmosphere with the added bonus of stunning views.
About Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with approximately 900 properties in more than 100 countries and 155,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently launched AloftSM, and Element SM. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.
IronPort launches new enhanced version of industry-leading S-Series Web Security Appliance
Improved S-Series adds Webroot and McAfee signatures, integrates selective HTTPS scanning, boosts reputation filtering
IronPort® Systems, a Cisco business unit and a leading provider of enterprise spam, virus, and spyware protection, has announced its new version of S-Series™ Web security appliance. Already the internet threat detection sector’s top Web security appliance, the S-Series will augment its multi-vendor signature scanning and provide selective HTTPS scanning to provide unrivaled high-performance security policy enforcement at the enterprise level.
The upgraded S-Series will support anti-spyware signatures from Webroot as well as anti-spyware and anti-virus signatures from McAfee, to be processed via IronPort’s Dynamic Vectoring and Streaming (DVS) engine. It will also be capable of performing selective HTTPS scanning, also through the DVS engine; this new function is vital given the more than 60 per cent annual increase in the use of HTTPS throughout the internet, a consideration overlooked in other Web security devices. Hackers have in fact become adept at creating apparently legitimate sites that initiate matching HTTPS connections and then transmit malware that cannot be analyzed by conventional security systems.
“Threat detection and management providers cannot afford to become complacent given the prevalence of malware- and spyware-delivering sites across the more than 10 billion active webpages currently in existence. Between 2 to 10 per cent of websites are believed to be malicious; this huge number necessitates the development of better technologies and strategies that prevent loss of confidential information; potential financial damages; system downtime; and reduced employee productivity”, said Ray Kafity, Regional Sales Manager – Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan, IronPort Systems.
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IronPort’s improved appliance will also include enhancements to its Web Reputation Filters, which currently have one of the highest capture rates of Web-based malware. The S-Series Reputation Filters will add URL Outbreak Detection and Botsite Defense to their capabilities, thus making them the most comprehensive Web security features in the reputation-based filtering market. They are expected to play a crucial protective role for at least 7 per cent of computers connected to the internet, representing between 75 to 100 million machines, which are estimated to be part of some botnet or botsite system.
URL Outbreak Detection is designed to identify and block uniform resource locators (URLs) that have no reputation or signature and which are normally hosted on a botnet-controlled botsite. Botside Defense, on the other hand, will use a unique Layer 4 Traffic Monitor to analyze multi-port traffic to identify connections associated with botnet activity on an organization’s network.
“The intelligence of these botnets is astounding. A single botnet can produce thousands of malware-laden botsites that are active for anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. The only effective defense is a Web reputation service that can detect the underlying deception and filter the sites out proactively,” added Kafity.
The enhanced S-Series appliance will also rely on the IronPort SenderBase Network to provide a strong defense against malicious Web-based intrusions. SenderBase has one of the largest email and Web-traffic footprints in the industry, allowing IronPort to detect and block new URL outbreaks rapidly. Real-time analysis of global Web traffic allows analysts in the IronPort Threat Operations Center to proactively publish reputation scores for such URLs prior to signatures being available from anti-malware vendors.
About IronPort Systems
IronPort Systems, headquartered in San Bruno, California, is a business unit of Cisco Systems, Inc. IronPort is the leading provider of anti-spam, anti-virus and anti-spyware appliances for organizations ranging from small businesses to the Global 2000. IronPort appliances utilize SenderBase®, the world's largest email and Web threat detection network and database. IronPort products are innovative and easy to use, providing breakthrough performance and playing a mission-critical role in a company's network infrastructure. To learn more about IronPort products and services, please visit: www.ironport.com
