Abu Dhabi pension fund to accept new ID card

The Abu Dhabi Retirement Pensions and Benefits Fund becomes first government office to use the ID cards in the capital.

ABU DHABI // Emiratis who have national identity cards will be able to use them when accessing the services of the Abu Dhabi Retirement, Pensions and Benefits Fund. The fund yesterday became the first government body in the capital to accept the biometric cards, following an agreement signed with the Emirates Identity Authority (Eida). "We want to co-operate with all government, semi-government and private institutions to facilitate the daily use of the ID card for people, and to make sure the ID card can be relied on to provide identification needed to obtain all government services," said Darwish al Zarouni, director general of Eida.

"Through agreements with government bodies like the pension fund and future, upcoming agreements, we want to ensure that by the end of 2010 nationals will really begin to feel how much this ID card will make their daily lives easier; this is our visionary target." Hamad al Mansouri, director general of the fund, described the national identity card programme as the spinal cord linking all official, governmental procedures. "We will no longer require multiple documents for those signing up for retirement or wanting to access their pension funds or use any of our services," he said. "We will only require the ID card."

The cards for Emiratis differ from those issued to foreign residents. They have UAE flags on the top right corner. "We will immediately be able to differentiate between an Emirati and a resident during procedures, and improve our customer service," Mr al Zarouni said. "We want our people to be proud about this type of initiative, and we know they will be, as soon as they see how much it will facilitate their use of services."