National Bank Of Abu Dhabi Q1 Profit Up 36%

Higher income from investments and fees helped National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates’ largest lender by market value, to a 35.5 per cent jump in first-quarter net profit, the bank said on Tuesday.

The bank posted net profit of Dhs1.41 billion ($384 million) in the first three months of 2013, beating the average forecast of Dhs1.09 billion in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Impairment charges for the first quarter of this year were Dhs322 million, up three per cent higher on the corresponding period last year.

Non-interest income grew 70.9 per cent to Dhs974 million, which the bank attributed to a combination of strength in financial markets and successful hedging strategies.

Net interest income and net income from Islamic financing increased 5.3 per cent against last year and net fees and commissions grew 8.9 per cent to Dhs414 million.

Loan growth continued to be lower than expected, the bank said, but deposits rose 9.6 per cent year on year, helped by net inflows of government deposits.

The bank, which this month appointed Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s Alex Thursby to take over as new chief executive in July, added that it has now fully repaid Dhs5.6 billion of finance ministry subordinated notes after repaying Dhs1.5 billion in the first quarter and a further Dhs1.5 billion at the start of the second quarter.