Abdul Hameed Shoman, founder of the Arab Bank, was born in 1890 in the Palestinian village of Beit Hanina. It so happened that he grew up during one of the more perilous periods of modern history, in which cataclysmic changes were taking place. He was oppressed with a constant thought, a sort of premonition of the lurking dangers that awaited the region, which confirmed his belief in the need to buttress right with might, such might that may only be attained, in an age where interests clash, by building a solid economy.

Abdul Hameed made up his mind to immigrate to the new world in pursuit of ambitions that for long had preoccupied his mind, and thus, in 1911, he boarded a ship to the United States of America. As soon as he arrived there, he labored diligently, working day and night. Within a short period of time, he managed to attain one success after another that soon he owned a highly profitable textile factory for ready-to-wear clothes which carried his name in the city of New York.


Compelled by his genuine patriotic feelings, Abdul Hameed Shoman began to fashion the idea of starting a bank with joint Arab participation, a bank that would commit to developing Arab economies. Such a bank, he reasoned, would constitute a nucleus of unified Arab effort and would contribute to strengthening and developing the newly rising economies, for he believed in the significant role that banks can play in shaping the lives of nations and their economies.