Just closed my Nbd account a year after leaving. And they had all cash on hand as I requested. Couple a kilos worth of thousand dirhams bills! I then walked to exchange to transfer it all back to the home bank. Only thing I needed to show was my passport. Someone had mentioned requiring a copy of your old UAE visa... Which I had made and ready to offer but they never asked for it.
It was definitely much easier to close the account than I thought... And in hindsight, it sure seemed a lot easier and more pleasant leaving than joining so many years ago.
So glad to be gone from the slave ship mentality
Kap