First Abu Dhabi Bank becomes latest UAE lender to cut jobs

First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC cut hundreds of jobs, according to people with knowledge of the matter, making it the latest United Arab Emirates’ lender to shed staff as sluggish growth weighs on the finance industry.

The country’s biggest bank dismissed hundreds of employees in recent weeks across several divisions, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. First Abu Dhabi Bank, which was created with the merger of two lenders in 2016, has about 5,400 workers globally, according to its website.

A spokeswoman for First Abu Dhabi Bank declined to comment.

The lender joins competitors such as Emirates NBD PJSC and Commercial Bank International PSC in cutting jobs. The U.A.E. economy is coming under pressure from regional geopolitical tensions and weak domestic demand, while business conditions worsened for the first time in over a decade, according to a recent survey. Consolidation between some of the country’s biggest lenders has also led to thousands of cuts.

First Abu Dhabi Bank last month said non-performing loans for last year jumped 17 per cent to Dhs13.5bn ($3.7bn) at the end of December, while impairment charges climbed 7 per cent to 1.84 billion dirhams.