A slogan by Mashreq has raised eyebrows around the Gulf this summer amid a slew of international financial scandals.

“We do banking, you do life,” is the strapline used by the UAE’s third biggest bank by revenue in a series of radio and print advertisements.

Following a number of high profile, global corporate scandals over the last year, some people have taken the word “life” in that sentence to mean something very different from what the copywriters had in mind.

The Random House Dictionary of the English Language lists one of the meanings of the word as “a prison sentence covering the remaining portion of the offender’s animate existence”.

“I nearly dropped my mobile phone and coffee when I heard the Mashreq slogan,” a British expat wrote on the popular website Qatar Living.

“Am not sure, as a customer, if I’d ever want to do life, in prison! Whoever did the creative, probably should get life,” blogger UAEian wrote.

Ahmad Hamad Al Gosaibi and Brothers (AHAB) is seeking more than $1bn from Mashreq in a counterclaim to the bank’s $150m lawsuit in New York against the troubled Saudi conglomerate.

AHAB has accused Mashreq of aiding and abetting fraud, conversion and breach of fiduciary duty, as well as unjust enrichment and bad faith.

Dubai-based advertising agency Team Y&R was responsible for creating Mashreq’s “you do life” slogan.

“In a fast-paced world, Mashreq ensures its customers enjoy what they cherish most. Life. Since different people interpret convenience differently, Mashreq’s range of products and services ensures that everyone’s life is made easier,” a spokesperson said.

“This research has translated in to a consumer promise and our tagline of - ‘we do banking, you do life,’ meaning we focus on looking after your financial well being so that you can focus on enjoying life.”

Transparency looks set to be the only winner in the fallout from the Algosaibi and Saad groups.

Exactly what has happened at the Saudi firms at the centre of a corporate scandal rocking Saudi Arabia is still not clear.

What is clear, however, is that it has changed how family owned companies in the region will be able to do business.

The practice of “name lending” has been widespread in the Gulf, where companies have been able to borrow money based solely on their name recognition and reputation.

But as the dispute between Algosaibi and billionaire Maan Al-Sanea moves into a New York court room and banks brace themselves for losses amid debt restructuring at the two companies, privately held firms are going to have to become more open or face having their financing cut off.

Friday’s move by Algosaibi to pursue its claims against Al-Sanea through the courts marks a departure from the private culture of the region’s family owned companies.

So private are they that many Gulf firms do not even have a public relations department for media professionals or other people seeking information about them. (A well known retailer recently fired its entire media relations team – tellingly, without informing the media about it.)

That privacy has extended to the debt markets, where the same companies have been unwilling to communicate key financial information to banks, credit rating agencies and other financial institutions.

Banks across the region are now feeling the effects of that secrecy, as names that were previously thought unsinkable default on bank loans and bonds.

The UAE central bank has said the country’s lenders have “significant” exposure to the Saudi companies, and has asked all banks operating in the country to inform it of the size of any loans extended to them.

Omani banks are the only ones in the GCC to have publicly announced their exposure to the beleaguered conglomerates.

Other banks would do well to follow their example and provide the market with some of that transparency their borrowers seem to lack.

News that Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour is cashing in his stake in Barclays is attracting cries of anguish from institutional investors.

A £2 billion ($3.26 billion) investment of convertible shares in Barclays was bought at the height of the UK credit crunch when the bank faced the choice of raising capital in the market or accepting a bailout that would see the British government become its largest shareholder.

Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan extracted what other investors considered to be preferable terms for its convertible shares, and criticised the bank for not making those terms available to all.

This week’s profit taking, which could net the Abu Dhabi sheikh a royal return of up to 70 percent, according to analysts, will do nothing to dampen the resentment of these investors.

Their chagrin is misplaced, as shareholders in General Motors will testify. In the case of the bankrupt motor manufacturer, the US government rescue almost entirely wiped out what was left of the company’s share value.

A British bailout of Barclays would not have been quite so bad for its shareholders, but it would probably have been a good deal worse for them than the deal that was struck with Abu Dhabi and Qatar investors.

They would have no doubt liked the sweeteners that Sheikh Mansour extracted, but they weren’t sitting at the negotiating table with the ability and willingness to write a cheque for £2 billion.

Sheikh Mansour took the risk, and is now fully entitled to the rewards.

I have just received a credit card statement from Emirates Islamic Bank and very surprised to find a membership fee charge of Dhs 500. When I just enquired with the customer service, I was advised that this was because I had not used my credit card in the previous billing cycle. Hence, I must ensure every month I make a minimum purchases on my card of AED 100 and then pay it off without leaving any balance. In short, I will have to pay the fee if I don’t use the card or if I leave any balance before the due date.

I quite understand the reason to pay if I had left any balance although the charge is ridiculously expensive compared to normal credit cards’ interest fee. But can anyone make any sense to me why I have to pay Dhs 500 for not using their service (credit card)? How Islamic is it? I am a Muslim and I know my religion very well. Islam does not constitute to charge customers for not using their service. So, on what basis does a bank that claims itself an Islamic bank charge me?

Let us see another scenario. If you leave the town on June 15th for one month holiday and decide not to use your credit card, that would mean you are forced to pay Dhs 500. In other words, the bank is penalising me for not using their service.

This whole Islamic banking deal is completely fabricated and is ripping off customers. And I am very sorry to say, these policies set by certain Islamic banks such as Emirates Islamic Bank are only insulting Islam.

I have a credit card from Citibank as well and have never had to call customer service because I have just never had any issues. Recently, I missed my Citibank payment by two days and was charged late payment fee. But that fee was waived off on the very next bill without even requesting. Now that is what I call true banking. With Citibank, even if I just make a minimum fee, I would never have had to pay Dhs 500 as an interest.

Time to spread the word… after all Islamic Banking is not Islamic. You are better off to do with normal banks that understands customers. And profit rate is just another word for interest. In the end, you do not have any benefit but you pay ridiculously more. So why then bank Islamic?

Buried on page 34 of yesterday’s edition of The Times was news that should have knocked MP’s expenses and even Jordan and Peter Andre’s divorce off the front page of UK newspapers.

The credit crunch has ended.

The London interbank offered rate (LIBOR), the rate at which banks lend to each other, fell to levels last seen in early 2003, and around one quarter the level of 2005 when subprime mortgage defaults rattled the US banking sector and set in chain events that led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year later.

The spread between the UK Bank of England base rate and Libor has also narrowed to 2007 levels, still not back to the razor thin spreads seen at the height of the credit splurge of 2005, but low enough to prompt respected economists and bankers to suggest “normal” lending should now resume.

The GCC banking sector is also returning to normal. The three month Emirates interbank offered rate (EIBOR) dropped to 2.4875 today, down from a peak of 4.7875 in October last year. The Saudi Arabian interbank offer rate (SAIBOR) is down to 1.13 percent after averaging 3.37 percent last year.

The technicality of whether the credit crunch is over or not may be of little interest to the average man on the street. But it is more than a mere academic question.

Interbank rates directly affect current and future home owners in the UAE. HSBC offers tracker mortgages of 4 percent above EIBOR, making home loans available today at 6.5 percent 2-3 percent lower than the banks variable rate of 8.5-9.5 percent, depending on the size of a customer’s deposit.

The new company that emerges from the merger of Islamic lenders Amlak and Tamweel is expected to open within weeks with competitive mortgage deals.

Lending is beginning to become cheaper and more affordable at the same time.

It is unlikely that lending to businesses and individuals will return to 2007 levels any time soon. Nor should it. Lending should be made on the conservative calculation of customers’ ability to service loans, and should be secured on assets that are properly valued or on salaries that can be reasonably expected to continue.

2007 lending was based on the price of real estate that was assumed to be permanently increasing, and on salaries that were expected to rise, uninterrupted, forever. The banks will not make the same mistake any time soon.

So while you may be able to wave goodbye to the credit crunch, you have to accept that living within your means in a new age of austerity is not going away any time soon.