RAKBANK enters into exclusive three-year partnership with FC Barcelona

Nick Watkins - Writer 09:51 16/07/2018
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  • RAKBANK, the national bank of Ras Al Khaimah, has become the official bank of FC Barcelona in the United Arab Emirates after signing an exclusive three-year partnership with the Spanish giants.

    The new deal was sealed in the presidential box at the Camp Nou and was attended by FC Barcelona’s Chief Executive Officer, Oscar Grau, and Frederic de Melker, Managing Director of Personal Banking at RAKBANK. Speaking about the partnership to Sport360 de Melker said, “At the beginning of 2018 we refreshed our strategy for the coming five years and the key focus in that new strategy is our customer relationship. From a banking perspective we know what to do but we wanted to appeal to our customers in a much broader way so we started talking to FC Barcelona. From their perspective they wanted an active partnership so the Barcelona brand can grow in the local markets, they’re not just after sponsorship money and so after some discussion a lot of boxes were ticked from both sides. Barcelona is more than just a football club and we want to be more than a bank so we are looking at what our customers’ interests are, and how that can be reflected in our relationship with brands,” de Melker stated.

    The association means RAKBANK customers can look forward to access to Barcelona branded merchandise and opportunities to watch the La Liga champions among other benefits. “In terms of products we’re going to launch new credit cards with benefits to those living in the UAE, we’ll also have sports-related cards which will help customers get deals on sportswear and events. We also want agreements with FC Barcelona as well so if people visit the stadium and official shop they benefit from using our cards,” said de Melker.

    Since 2005 the Spanish giants have won four of the club’s five Champions League titles and nine of their 25 domestic league titles. “If you look at FC Barcelona as a brand it’s one of, if not the biggest in the world and their engagement on social media compared to other football clubs is incredible,” added de Melker. “The club is very open and flexible to work with so the club was absolutely our first choice and we’re delighted that they’ve agreed to partner with us. We wanted to partner with Barcelona because we know how big football is in the UAE and GCC so we wanted to partner with someone who would be of genuine interest to our customers.”

    RAKBANK has the option of extending the agreement with Barcelona for a further two years. Customers will be able to sign up for the new FC Barcelona dedicated co-branded products including Mastercard platinum credit and debit cards, which are due by the end of 2018.

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