In 1969, when we at Commercial Bank of Dubai started out little did we know that sheer grit and determination would get us where we are today. An Emiri Decree issued by His Highness the Late Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the founder of modern Dubai, laid the cornerstone of Commercial Bank of Dubai. We started out as a joint venture of Commerzbank, Chase Manhattan Bank and Commercial Bank of Kuwait. A minority stake was held by a few UAE businessmen. By 1982, little more than a decade later, we evolved into a National Public Shareholding company. A feat complimented by an exponential increase in the capital base and mammoth restructuring of our operations. The feather in the cap came when the Government of Dubai became a key shareholder.