Souqalmal.com, an interactive portal offering information on a range of financial products, has launched its version 2.0 in the UAE and has also expanded to cover Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in Arabic and English.

The first independent financial comparison website in the country, souqalmal.com allows consumers to search and compare over 450 banking products including credit cards, personal loans, home loans and car finance products offered by the country’s banks and other financial institutions.

“We are delighted to launch our version 2.0 as this brings an even better service to our users.  Our new site not only provides the facts but with the use of our calculators, users can find out how any credit they take on will affect their monthly finances,” said Ambareen Musa, founder and CEO of Souqalmal.com.

“We have also posted a Credit Card guide and will continue to post more. Our Arabic version of the site will be launching on May 30.”

“We have learnt a lot in the last 6 months from our users and our v2.0 is an improvement of our current website including many of the feedback we got from our users,” she added.

The website is celebrating its relaunch by offering users who write a review of their current banking product on Souqalmal.com a chance to win 2 x one night stay at Banyan Tree Al Wadi.

Users can now share their favourite products with their Twitter followers and Facebook friends, Musa said.

The added features on the site include calculators allowing customers to see how much their repayments would be if they took on credit, in depth financial guides to help users understand the process and things to look for when applying for the different banking products and an even more usable interface.

“We have even more exciting news as we announce as we launched in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and this is only the beginning of our expansion regionally,” said Musa.

Souqalmal, Arabic for money market, was first launched in June 2011 and aims to be the region’s leading information website for financial products. It is based on sites available in mature financial markets around the world, including the UK, Australia and the US.

“We founded Souqalmal.com to give consumers a platform and one place to search and compare the banking products of the UAE.  It works as we are completely independent and allow our users to review and rate those products for others,” Musa said.

“With over 50 banks in the UAE, each offering a full range of financial products, consumers find it very hard to find the product that brings them the right benefits at the right cost – did you know you can choose from over 150 credit cards in the UAE.”

“In the end, we want it to be a site every consumer visits to do their homework on financial products and share their findings with others,” she added. – TradeArabia News Service