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GLOBAL:
Following a preliminary agreement contracted with Barclays Bank last
month (see IFN Vol. 11 Iss. 14), Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank has received
regulatory approval from the Central Bank of the UAE for the acquisition
of Barclays’ retail banking business in the UAE.
Estimated at AED650 million (US$176.92 million), the acquisition will add
Barclays’ 110,000 customers to ADIB’s portfolio with the transfer process
beginning on the 1st September 2014. Tirad Mahmoud, CEO of
ADIB, is confident that a majority of customers will subsequently migrate
from Barclays to ADIB after the acquisition. His optimism stems from
ADIB’s significant presence of 80 branches across the UAE as well as
offices in Egypt, Iraq, the UK and Qatar.
The Islamic financial institution also looks to opening a branch in Basra
before the end of 2014 and is also currently exploring opportunities in
Southeast Asia. ADIB Securities, the bank’s brokerage arm, also recently
succeeded in becoming an equities member of NASDAQ Dubai, allowing it to
extend the reach of its Shariah compliant trading platform.
Additionally, ADIB has also agreed to participate in a US$2 billion debt
restructuring exercise with Amlak Finance, an Islamic mortgage provider
that suspended its mortgage financing activities in 2008. ADIB together
with five other creditors have signed a tentative agreement to facilitate
negotiations of Amlak’s debt overhaul. According to Tirad, the extension
on principal payments would assist the firm to recover and regain
solvency. Amlak’s shares are expected to resume trading on the Dubai
Financial Market in the second half of the year.
ADIB reported a 20.4% increase in net profit for the first quarter
totaling AED409.5 million (US$111.49 million) as compared to the first
three months of 2013. Total assets for the period reached AED103.8
billion (US$28.26 billion), up 16.4% from the corresponding period last
year.
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