21 Feb 2016
MANAMA, BAHRAIN – 20 February 2016: Ithmaar Bank, a Bahrain-based Islamic retail bank, announced today (ed note 20/02/16) that it is the first bank in Bahrain to have its account on the popular micro-blogging site Twitter, formally verified.
The announcement, which follows official confirmation from the Bahrain Social Media Club, puts the Ithmaar Bank Twitter account – IthmaarBankBH – on par with some of most reliable and most credible accounts in the region.
“We are pleased to confirm that Ithmaar Bank is the first and only bank in Bahrain to have a verified Twitter account,” said Bahrain Social Media Club Director, Abdulla Al Dossary. “Effectively, this means that the Bank’s Twitter account is now similar, in terms of safety, reliability and credibility to, for example, an official national-level account,” he said.
According to the latest data available from the Bahrain Social Media Club, the Bank also has one of the largest social media presence on the key Twitter, Facebook and Instagram platforms in Bahrain, as well as by far the largest number of engagements with, as well as impressions on, social media users for any bank in the Kingdom.
“According to the data, Ithmaar Bank’s total social media channels community currently consists of more than 39,650 users,” said Al Dossary. “More importantly, total engagements – including comments, replies and reposts – with users on those various channels add up to more than 450,000 instances. With 2 million social media accounts in Bahrain, this means that Ithmaar Bank has effectively engaged directly with about 22.5 percent of Bahrain’s users,” he said.
Ithmaar Bank’s largest following on social media is on the popular image-sharing platform, Instagram with 20,100 followers, followed by Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn with 9,623, 6,616 and 3314 followers respectively.
“Ithmaar Bank is determined to become the region’s premier Islamic retail bank,” said Ithmaar Bank Assistant General Manager, Head of Retail Banking, Mohammed Janahi. “We recognise that, to do so, we must listen closely to our customers and we must deliver on their expectations. This is a commitment we take very seriously – and our remarkable success on the leading social media platforms is clear testimony to that very commitment,” he said.
“Ithmaar Bank has long recognised the importance of continuously working to grow closer to our customer, and we invest heavily in doing so,” said Janahi. “In addition to continuously expanding our retail banking network which, with 17 full-service branches and 46 ATMS in strategic locations across Bahrain, is now one of the largest in the Kingdom, we are also continuously enhancing our online presence,” he said.