UAE national banks invested Dhs10.4bn in January

The Central Bank of the UAE said on Wednesday that the country’s national banks invested Dhs10.4bn in January.

The investments were mainly in securities and bonds.

Investments in bonds amounted to Dhs4.9bn in January 2020. That brings the national banks’ total investments in bonds to Dhs215.3bn.

Their combined investments in held-to-maturity securities also increased from Dhs95.8bn in December 2019 to Dhs96.2bn by the end of January 2020, with other investments up from Dhs43.1bn to Dhs48.3bn during the same period.

Investments in shares declined to Dhs10.6bn.

Emirati banks received approximately 89.8 per cent of the total investments by UAE-based lenders until January 2020, which totalled Dhs412.2bn.

Read: UAE banks invested Dhs141bn in Q4 2019 across the GCC

Banks in the UAE have invested upto Dhs141.4bn during the fourth quarter of 2019 across four GCC states – namely Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait.

The Q4 2019 investments mark an 11.3 per cent growth from Dhs127bn in the preceding quarter

Saudi Arabia led the pack as the top beneficiary of UAE banks, accounting for 54 per cent of the total banking investment across the four GCC states.

The kingdom raked in Dhs76.4bn in Q4 2019, marking a 17.5 per cent increase from Dhs65bn in Q3 last year.