Three UAE residents opened a bank account to save money a while back, but little did they know they would find themselves in the driver’s seat of a brand-new car.

The three lucky savers, a Filipino, an Emirati and a Syrian, have each bagged the keys to a shiny, new electric car from Tesla after their names were picked in a raffle by Emirates Islamic Bank.

Ruffa Marie Hofilena Enano from the Philippines, Madiha Mohsen Al Haddad from Syria and Tariq Mohammad Samia Almutawa from the UAE are the latest winners of the bank’s Kunooz Savings account promotional campaign that seeks to encourage UAE residents to save money and maintain a healthy financial lifestyle.

Each car is estimated to be worth between $90,700 and $110,700 (Dh333,000 to Dh406,000).

The lucky savers have been holding their accounts for years now. The Filipino expat, Enano, opened her savings with the bank in October 2015 yet, while Al Haddad started his account in June 2013, while Almutawa has been a Kunooz saver since August 2016.

In a bid to raise cash and entice more customers, some financial institutions in the UAE have resorted to “save and win” campaigns.

Liquidity held by UAE banks declined over recent period and this has been partly due to tight lending measures. According to the UAE Central Bank, certificates of deposit dropped to Dh132.4 billion in January from Dh135.1 billion in December 2017.

As of May 2018, however, residents’ money held in banks totaled Dh804.3 billion, up 1.1 per cent from Dh795.7 billion in April 2018. These figures refer to funds held in resident time and savings deposits.

EIB’s promotion promises to give away not just electric cars, but a Dh1 million cash prize to one lucky saver. The deal is that bank customers should keep at least Dh5,000 in the bank in order to qualify for the draw.

The bank is also enticing customers to win one of five cash prizes worth Dh3,000 every day for every Dh1,000 balance maintained in their account.

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