The National Bank (''TNB'') was recently awarded the Women’s Economic Empowerment Pioneering Award from the Union of Arab Banks, during the Pioneering and Business Excellence Awards 2017. The ceremony, which was held in Amman, Jordan under the auspices of Princess Taghrid Mohammad,was well attended by local and regional banking leaders and businessmen.

Speaking at the awards, TNB General Manager Ahmad Hajhasan expressed his happiness at the recognition by the Union of Arab Banksof the bank’s role in the economic empowerment of Palestinian women. He noted that TNB’s pioneering position has placed it firmly on the map of Arab banks seeking to empower women economically. This award comes in addition to the 2017 Best Bank for Women Empowerment award for the Middle East, given by CPI Financial and its affiliated The Banker Middle East magazine.

Hajhasan also addressed the role played by TNB in this field, and its financing of numerous women-led projects, interest-free and without any profitability for the bank, to the tune of approximately $2.5 million. He affirmed the importance of these projects in helping women achieve financial independence and in creating new opportunities in the Palestinian market, in view of the high unemployment rates, in addition to their contribution in improving the living standards of benefiting communities.

Hajhasan also spoke of TNB's launch of the pioneering savings account for Palestinian women in 2015, which this year has become the first integrated banking program for Palestinian women, affirming the need to involve women in the economic process more widely in order to improve the national economy. 

Hajhasan noted that TNB will continue toempower, support and finance women, noting that the bank has signed several agreements with local and international parties to increase funding for them. These agreements, he said, amount to $7 million for the establishment of productive, women-led projects, with a focus on Jerusalem and "C" areas in order to create and further sustainable development.

Hajhasan added that TNB’s commitment to adopting and implementing the international principles for women’sas per the United Nations Charter and UN Commission for Women for two consecutive years now, has led to the implementations of the charter’s values as a general framework, whether in terms of responsible banking products,by supporting them at the community level through the bank’s effective and sustainable corporate social responsibility program or in the workplace. He noted that 33% of TNB employees are women, the largest percentage in the entire Palestinian banking sector.