MANAMA, Bahrain — Ithmaar Bank, a Bahrain-based Islamic retail bank, announced the opening of a new branch in Hamad Town, effectively relocating the Bank’s Al Hamalah branch to a new, better and more accessible location with ample parking facilities. The new, full-service branch in Hamad Town is located at Roundabout 12, near PetroMart — Malkiya Fuel Station, and will serve customers in this fast-growing commercial and residential area. The new branch maintains Ithmaar Bank’s network of 15 branches and 40 ATM machines, one of the largest retail banking networks in Bahrain. Ithmaar Bank General Manager Retail Banking Group Mohammed Janahi, said the move underscores the bank’s commitment to continuously investing on improving its customer service offerings. “We try our best to be as close to our customers as possible, especially in fast-growing or densely populated areas such as Hamad Town,” said Janahi. “The location of the new branch was selected following a detailed study that uncovered a growing need of the expanded customer base for the bank’s services,” he said. “Ithmaar Bank is committed to becoming the retail bank of choice in Bahrain,” said Janahi. “We recognize that, to do so, we must listen closely to our customers and work to ensure we meet or exceed their expectations,” he said. “This, in turn, demands continuous investments to improve our products and services, as well as our delivery channels, both physical and electronic,” he said. “Ithmaar Bank also invested tremendous time, money and effort on developing the Bank’s digital infrastructure and on implementing far-reaching, bank-wide digital initiatives,” said Janahi. “As a result, almost all Ithmaar Bank transactions can now be completed online,” he said. Earlier this year, Ithmaar Bank, in collaboration with Mastercard, launched new service that allows Ithmaar Bank customers to transfer money from Bahrain to various countries around the world almost instantly. The service, called IthmaarSEND, is provided to customers directly from the Ithmaar Bank eBanking platform. The service offers customers a faster, simpler and more secure way of transferring money abroad from almost anywhere in the world, through mobile phones, tablets or any other internet-connected device. The bank also announced earlier that customers can message the Ithmaar Bank Call Center number 13303030 to request information through WhatsApp about the Bank’s products and services, as well as make any other general enquiries. The new branch will be open from Saturday to Wednesday, 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; and 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evenings. — SG