Emirates NBD Signs UN Women's Empowerment Principles to Boost Gender Equality

By: WE Staff | Wednesday, 23 July 2025

• Emirates NBD have formally endorsed the United Nations Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs)
• The move reiterates the bank's pledge to ensure gender equality and women's leadership
• By adopting the WEPs, the bank places itself on par with best practice internationally for advancing women in the workplace, marketplace, and community

Emirates NBD, the leading banking group in the MENAT region, has reaffirmed its devotion to women's leadership and gender balance by supporting the United Nations Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs). With the goal of deploying women for 25 percent of leadership roles by 2027, the bank continues to focus on a set of efforts aimed at establishing an inclusive and positive work culture.

These encompass enhanced maternity and paternity leave policy, flexible working practices, and the Career Comeback Programme for women to return to work after a career break. Emirates NBD has also pledged leadership training targeted at women, unconscious bias training, and enhanced workplace facilities for women. With more than 40 percent of its employees now being women—exceeding global standards—the bank reflects significant strides toward gender balance.

Emirates NBD's leadership, such as CEO Shayne Nelson and COO Eman Abdulrazzaq, made the point that female empowerment is not only a social obligation but also crucial for driving innovation and economic development. Being in partnership with the UN WEPs also reinforces the bank's global alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and international best practices, placing it as the change catalyst for mainstreaming female empowerment in all sectors.

Emirates NBD (DFM: Emirates NBD) is a top banking group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye) region, with presence in 13 countries and over 9 million active customers. The Group had total assets of AED 1 trillion (approximately USD 272 billion) as of March 31, 2025. 

Emirates NBD has a robust regional and international presence with its operations in the UAE, Egypt, India, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the UK, Austria, Germany, Russia, and Bahrain and representative offices in China and Indonesia. The bank has a large network of 839 branches and 4,539 ATMs and SDMs. Emirates NBD is the UAE's most valuable financial services brand with a brand value of USD 4.54 billion.