Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: Abu Dhabi First Bank is considering entering the Saudi market, Al Khaleej newspaper reported, citing the bank’s CEO Abdel Hamid Mohamed Saeed as saying.
Entering the Saudi market will likely involve acquiring existing financial institutions or receiving a new licence, he said, according to the newspaper.
The Abu Dhabi-based bank is also eyeing several new global markets and exiting other underperforming ones, he added.
Foreign operations represent 20% only of the bank’s total operations, Al Khaleej reported, citing the top official as saying.
Abu Dhabi First Bank is the result from merging the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and First Gulf Bank (FGB). Following the merger, the bank’s revenues grew 8.5% to AED 5.20 billion in the first quarter of 2017.
Net profit for the new entity amounted to AED 2.93 billion in the first quarter of 2017.
In 2016, NBAD reported AED 5.3 billion in net profit, up 1.2% from AED 5.23 billion in 2015.
