FGB said on Wednesday its third-quarter profit jumped 31 per cent, boosted by higher revenues.
The bank’s profit rose to Dh1.86 billion in the three months ended September from Dh1.41bn in the same period last year. Net interest income and Islamic financing increased 1 per cent to Dh1.59bn versus Dh1.57bn a year earlier. Other operating income leapt 324 per cent to Dh708 million from Dh167m, but the bank did not specify what was behind that gain.
“We are pleased with our third- quarter performance as it highlights once again the resilience of our business model and our ability to generate solid earnings in a volatile global environment,” said André Sayegh, FGB’s chief executive.
FGB shares were down 14.3 per cent for the year to date through Wednesday, versus a decline of 0.9 per cent for the Abu Dhabi Securities Market General Index. FGB accounts for 23.9 per cent of the index’s weighting, behind only Etisalat’s 29.6 per cent.
This week, FGB and its closest competitor NBAD invited shareholders to separate general assembly meetings on December 7 to approve the two banks’ merger.
The banks said in July that their boards had unanimously voted to recommend to their shareholders a merger of the Abu Dhabi-listed banks, in what would create a lender with US$175bn in assets, the largest in the Middle East.
mkassem@thenational.ae