Emirates NBD to Fund Shamal Buyers From Halfway Point
Dubai's Emirates NBD will begin mortgage financing for Shamal Holding's off-plan buyers once half the purchase price is paid, running through to handover.
Nadia Mansour Nadia Mansour covers fintech across the UAE and MENA for Anecdoted -- digital banking, payments licences and the startups building around them. nadia@anecdoted.com
Emirates NBD will provide mortgages to buyers of off-plan homes built by Shamal Holding in Dubai, under an agreement between the two firms.
The financing begins once a buyer has paid half of the property's price and continues until the home is handed over. From that halfway point, buyers and investors can draw on mortgage options that set out borrowing costs earlier than usual and shorten the approval path, the bank said. Flexible payment support is also part of the offer after the 50 per cent milestone is reached.
A lender that arrives before completion
New-build buyers in Dubai typically arrange a mortgage late, often close to the point where the unit is finished and the developer wants the balance settled. Emirates NBD is placing itself earlier in the sequence, at the stage where a buyer has already committed significant money to a project but still needs the rest of the funding lined up. That gives the buyer a decision point months before handover, and leaves the bank with a clearer view of the transaction than a loan arranged at the end would give.
What both sides said
Yousuf Saeed Mohd, group head of Priority and Personal Banking, and Retail Banking Sales at Emirates NBD, said the collaboration helps customers make informed decisions about buying a home or investing, and to do so with greater security and confidence.
Abdulla Binhabtoor, chief executive officer of Shamal Holding, said the partnership adds a layer to the developer's strategy for high-end property and carries the same standard into how buyers pay for their homes.
Risk controls stay in place
The agreement is meant to feed Emirates NBD's home loan business. Applications taken through the partnership still pass through the bank's usual risk checks, which the lender said it will keep applying.
Why the timing of the loan matters
An off-plan purchase asks a buyer to solve two unrelated problems: paying the developer in instalments over several years, and qualifying for credit. Most people handle the second one near the end, which leaves them exposed if rates climb, if their income changes, or if a lender tightens its criteria before they apply. Agreeing the financing at the halfway mark narrows that window. It also binds the developer and the lender to one schedule, so the buyer is not left chasing two separate timelines as completion approaches. Shamal gets a sales pitch that answers the mortgage question at the point of purchase; Emirates NBD gains borrowers whose payment history with the developer is already visible to it.
Emirates NBD is headquartered in Dubai and operates in 13 countries across the Middle East, North Africa, Türkiye and South Asia.
Featured image edited by Fintech News UAE, based on an image by Emirates NBD via its press release.
