News - UAE bank assets top Saudi Arabia's

Combined assets of UAE banks reached $273 billion compared to $250 billion in Saudi Arabia at the end of the second quarter of 2007, making the UAE banking industry the largest in the GCC, a study says. The current economic boom in the country should continue to drive the growth of the UAE banking sector in the foreseeable future, a study by The National Investor (TNI) said on Sunday.
"A favourable macro-economic backdrop, along with increased government and private spending on infrastructure projects, has underpinned the strong growth of the UAE banking sector.
In terms of aggregate asset size, the UAE emerges as the largest in the GCC region with $273 billion compared to $250 billion in Saudi Arabia at the end of second quarter of 2007," the report says.
Of all the banks in the UAE, First Gulf Bank (FGB) has been the fastest growing commercial bank, the study showed.
It assets grew at a compound annual growth rate of 87.6 per cent in the past three years, more than twice the rate of the ten largest banking networks, which grew at 38.4 per cent.
In terms of balance sheet size, FGB's market share increased from 1.3 per cent in 2001 to 7.1 per cent in 2006.
"Due to such significant growth, the bank is now competing with the leading UAE banking players, a definite upgrade from its historical status as a medium-sized bank," said Burhan Ali, who prepared the report.