First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the UAE’s largest lender by assets, recorded a net profit of $1.38 billion (AED 5.1 billion) in the three months ending March 31, 2022. The figure is up 54 percent quarter-on-quarter and up 107 percent from a net profit of $680.62 million (AED 2.5 billion) in the same period in 2021.
According to a stock market bulletin posted on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, this is the bank’s biggest quarterly net profit in its history.
Led by Hana Al Rostamani, the Group Chief Executive Officer, and James Burdett, the Group Chief Financial Officer, FAB continues to have good fundamentals in asset quality, liquidity, funding, and capital measures, according to the data. The strong set of results illustrates that their plan is being implemented and that their main companies are moving in the right direction.
From First Abu Dhabi Bank’s financial statements –
The bank’s total income was $1.98 billion (AED 7.3 billion), including a net gain of $762.29 million (AED 2.8 billion) on the sale of a majority stake in Magnati payment solutions. In comparison to the first quarter of 2021, annualized earnings per share (EPS) increased by 113 percent at AED 1.84. Impairment costs increased to $124.4 million (AED 457 million) in the first quarter of 2021, up from $127.9 million (AED 470 million) the previous quarter.
Operating costs came up at $408.37 million (AED 1.5 billion), indicating that continued strategic and digital investments were made. At $118.15 billion (AED 434 billion), loans, advances, and Islamic financing were increased 15% year on year and 6% year to date. Customer deposits at First Abu Dhabi Bank climbed by 6% year over year to $163.34 billion (AED 600 billion); the deposit mix improved, with CASA balances increasing by $5.98 billion (AED 22 billion) to represent 52 percent of the total customer deposits.
The Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) improved by 120 percent, indicating that the company’s liquidity position is good. With an NPL ratio of 3.8 percent and acceptable provision coverage of 98 percent, healthy asset quality criteria were achieved. CET1 (Common Equity Tier 1) climbed to 13.0%, comfortably exceeding regulatory norms and indicating a strong capital position.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, announced earlier this month that the country’s GDP increased 3.8 percent last year, exceeding the World Bank’s prediction of 2.1 percent. Despite global geopolitical obstacles and pandemic-related uncertainty, the UAE economy rebounded strongly from last year’s pandemic-driven downturn and has continued to thrive this year.
