News - UAE Banking

Retail banking in Mideast to prosper

Globally retail banks are facing intensified competition due to deregulation and the opening of international markets. However, retail banking is projected to prosper in the Middle East, according to a recent report from Boston Consulting Group.
"In recent years, the Middle East belonged to the highest growth regions in retail banking globally and we expect this to continue in future," said Reinhold Leichtfuss, leader of the European and Middle East retail banking practice for BCG and lead author of the report.
"However, an increasing number of foreign competitors entering the market will require differentiating business models to succeed in the long-term. In the Middle East, too, further consolidation in retail banking is only a matter of time."
By 2015, the share of global retail banking revenues generated collectively in the top five European countries and in the United States will have shrunk by an estimated five per cent, with a corresponding collective share increase in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

UAE consumer loans jump a third to $11b

Total consumer loans in the UAE grew by almost a third in the first nine months of the year to more than $11 billion, and bank assets rose by more than 20 per cent, the central bank said on Wednesday.
UAE banks have been expanding their retail lending businesses after a stock market crash in 2006 hit brokerage and fee income and prompted them to push car loans, credit cards and personal loans to four million potential consumers.
Banks in the second-largest Arab economy had Dh41.01 billion ($11.17 billion) in outstanding loans to individuals on September 30, compared with Dh31.36 billion at the end of December, the central bank said on its website."The economy is picking up again after a stock market correction in 2005 and 2006. It is not surprising to see strong growth in consumption," said Giyas Gokkent, head of research at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.