Reports

Gulf Bank Looks to Switzerland for Profits

Nick Parmee 31 January 2007

Gulf Bank Looks to Switzerland for Profits

National Bank of Abu Dhabi has announced pre-tax profits of AED2,157 million, 18 per cent down on 2005, but on the brighter side, total asse...

National Bank of Abu Dhabi has announced pre-tax profits of AED2,157 million, 18 per cent down on 2005, but on the brighter side, total assets topped AED100 billion at the end of 2006, up 19 per cent from year end 2005 with deposits up 19 per cent to AED71 billion and loans up 12 per cent to AED58 billion. It was investment banking profits, representing a fifth of the group profits, which did the damage, down by nearly two thirds over the year owing to weak local and less active equity markets which affected asset management and brokerage fee business. Profits from the international banking business increased 31 per cent, 18 per cent of the group profit. The chief executive Michael Tomalin said: “These are solid results. The bank has progressed across a broad front investing in its franchise, its people and its systems and we remain well placed to take advantage of future favourable market conditions". Looking to the future, he referred to two wholly-owned Islamic and Swiss subsidiaries to be operational in the second half of 2007; it is understood that the Swiss private bank will have SwFr100 million ($80 million) of start-up capital.

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