Wednesday, Apr 23, 2014
Dubai -- The first quarter bank results announced so far points to impressive surge in profits and revenues with underlying trends pointing towards continued strong balance sheet expansion.
UAE banks have recorded impressive growth in the first quarter, continuing the trend from 2013 with sustained growth in profit and improvement in asset quality.
First Gulf Bank (FGB), the second-largest bank by market value in the UAE posted a 27 per cent jump in first-quarter net profit on Wednesday. FGB reported a net profit of Dh 1.33 billion, exceeding most analysts’ expectations.
Between March-end 2013 and March-end 2014, FGB’s loans and advances grew by 7 per cent to Dh123.4 billion, and total assets rose by 10 per cent to Dh192.9 billion. On the funding side, customer deposits grew by 9 per cent to Dh129.6 billion.
“FGB’s assets were well positioned to benefit from the continuous economic improvement in the UAE and elsewhere, which reflected positively on our profits,” said André Sayegh, CEO of FGB.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank posted year-on-year profit increases of 15 and 20 percent respectively earlier this week.
A number of smaller banks too reported robust profit growth. On Wednesday banks such as United Arab Bank, National Bank of Fujairah and Commercial bank of Dubai and National Bank of Umm A-Qauiwain posted profit growth of of 34, 27,16 and 9 percent,respectively.
All the banks that reported results so far has reported healthy growth in loans and advances and funding. UAB’s customer loans and advances increased by 47 per cent to Dh17.2 billion versus March 2013. Customer deposits grew by 46 per cent in the same period to stand at Dh16.4 billion. CBD reported a loan growth of 7.2 per cent to Dh29.9 billion compared to Dh27.9 billion in the first quarter of 2013.
Loans and advances were up 8.1 per cent to Dh15.5 billion from Dh14.3 billion at 2013 year end as customer deposits grew 6 per cent to Dh15.9 billion in the same period. “NBF’s strong start to 2014 highlights not just the success of the bank’s strategy of steady and sustainable growth, but the renewed optimism that has started to take root in the country,” said Easa Saleh Al Gurg, Deputy Chairman of NBF.
By Babu Das Augustine Deputy Business Editor
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