Dubai, UAE—UAE’s four largest banks have posted a huge jump in net profits in the first half of 2022 on the back of higher income from interest and lower provisioning charges, according to Moody’s.
The four banks — the First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates NBD, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank — account for over 70 percent of the UAE’s banking assets as of June 2022.
The banks reported a combined net profit of $4.4 billion, up 10 percent from $3.9 billion in the same period in 2021, according to the report.
“The performance takes into account the hyperinflationary accounting adjustment for one large UAE bank with a subsidiary operating in Turkey,’’ said Nitish Bhojnagarwala, vice president- senior credit officer at Moody’s Investor Service.
This happens as the operating environment in the UAE continues to recover despite global macro-headwinds.
The recovery reflected improving consumer confidence particularly given loosening pandemic restrictions, a strong vaccination roll-out, recovering oil prices and expectations of a reversal in the benchmark interest rates cycle.