Dubai, UAE — Emirates NBD, Dubai’s biggest lender by assets, said Thursday its first-quarter net profit more than doubled to a record AED 6 billion ($1.63 billion) on higher margins, growing non-funded income and lower cost of risk on recoveries.
Shayne Nelson, Group Chief Executive Officer, said the bank’s total income grew by 64 percent to a record AED 10.5 billion on increased transaction volumes and improved margins from an efficient funding base and higher interest rates. This is for the first time that the bank’s income exceeded AED 10 billion.
Healthy sector liquidity helped deposits grow by AED 35 billion or seven percent including a further AED 19 billion increase in current and savings accounts, supporting a three percent increase in lending and impressive asset growth, the bank said and added that “every business unit delivered higher income and improved profitability”.
Credit quality improved due to substantial recoveries reflecting the region’s growing economy with impairment charge down 66 percent.
Nelson said, “This is the highest ever quarterly profit delivered by a UAE bank. Q1-23 is the strongest ever quarter for retail lending with over 144,000 new credit cards issued and over AED 8 billion of retail loan disbursements.”