The UAE-based bank issued an upbeat statement about its private banking performance and said group net profits surged in the first three months of this year.

Emirates NBD, the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates by total income and number of branches, said its private banking arm “showed significant growth” in the first quarter of 2015, with strong performance in its international locations. Today’s statement from the bank gave few figures on the private banking segment, however.

Emirates NBD Asset Management grew its assets under management to over AED11 billion ($2.99 bilion).

The group as a whole logged a first quarter 2015 net profit of AED1.7 billion, surging by 60 per cent from a year earlier, buoyed by a rise in net interest and non-interest income, as well as stable costs and lower impairment charges.

Total income for the first quarter grew by 15 per cent to AED3.8 billion. Net interest income grew 11 per cent over the same quarter a year ago to AED2.5 billion, as asset growth was focused on higher margin Islamic and retail products.

The bank issued over AED5 billion of term debt, which boosted structural liquidity in the first quarter. The impaired loan ratio improved further during the quarter from 7.9 per cent to 7.8 per cent as the bank actively managed its existing stock of impaired loans whilst the impaired loan coverage ratio strengthened to 103.9 per cent. Capital ratios fell slightly in Q1 as the annual dividend payment more than offset retained profit in the quarter.