"I do believe (the advertisement) is humorous but I do not believe the advert is offensive in any shape or form," RAK Bank spokesperson Grace Ghunaim said. The bank took "special care" when creating concepts for its advertisement to ensure they did not cause offence, she said.

A radio commercial of the credit card of RAK Bank features a telephone call from a fast-speaking Indian salesman as an example of bad service of the kind the bank does not give to its customer. But the local daily Gulf News, said it was contacted by an Emirati reader who felt the advert was offensive to Indians.

"We ran it by some of our Indian customers and staff and they did see the humour and they didn't take offence," Ghunaim said. She said RAK Bank was multicultural, in terms of both its staff and customers, so the company would never set out to make fun of any group of people. The advert will continue to be aired, Ghunaim added.