Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, the biggest Sharia-compliant lender in the emirate, said its profit for the first quarter increased just more than 10 per cent as its customer base grew by almost a third following its acquisition of Barclays' UAE retail business.
Net income increased to Dh450.8 million in the first quarter from Dh409.5m in the same period last year as customers rose to almost 800,000 at the end of the first quarter, it said.
"Following the acquisition of Barclays' retail assets in the UAE we continue to expand into the expatriate retail segment while remaining a strong focus on our UAE customer base," said Tirad Al Mahmoud, the bank's chief executive. "We are also making our presence felt in the commercial banking arena by providing growing companies with a full service offering, and have maintained our strong position in capital markets advisory."
Barclays, the UK’s second largest bank, said in September it had completed the sale of its UAE retail banking business to ADIB.
The £119m (Dh661.7m) sale, announced in April 2014, comes as the British bank reorganises its business in the wake of regulatory fines and reduces assets in areas where it does not have a competitive edge. As a result of the sale, ADIB added 110,000 new customers.
mkassem@thenational.ae
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