for the nine months Abu Dhabi, Oct. 17th, 2006(WAM))--The Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank(ADCB) announced a record net profit for the 9 months period of 2006 of AED 1,616 million against AED 1,425 million for the same period last year, an increase of 13 per cent.
Eirvin Knox, CEO of ADCB, attributed the strong results to growth in core businesses which was complemented by the bank's participation asa receiving bank in the first quarter capital markets' IPO issues."If you eliminate the impact of profits from IPO activity from the year onyear results, the Bank has achieved an increase in core profits of 33%over 2005, due to the strong growth in our core businesses".
Operating profit for the 9 months period of 2006 has risen to AED 2,396million, a 27 per cent increase over 2005. Total assets also increasedby 25 per cent from AED 57.5 billion to AED 72 billion during the ninemonth period. Deposits have grown by 20% to AED 40.9 billion from AED33.9 billion for the same period last year. Loans and advances have alsoincreased by 28 per cent to AED 54 billion from AED 42.2 billion at theend of 2005. "We continue to introduce innovative products and services to our valuedcustomers. In the third quarter we initiated The Smart Loan Scheme providingindividuals with immediate finance that meets their urgent needs witheasy repayment arrangements with a low interest rate which has been extremelypopular in the market. We also re-launched our Million Dollar Dream Deposit,Mortgage Services, All in One Account and many other innovative productsand services are on queue awaiting final touches and approvals, to betterserve our existing and new customers.,' stated Knox. Recently, the bank issued USD $400 million of subordinated debt alongwith the launch of a USD $ 2 billion euro commercial paper programme.Both of these issues have positioned the bank to sustain a high rateof growth while at the same time ensure funding is available at the lowestcost. The debut issue of the euro commercial paper programme is a firstin the UAE. The bank is currently arranging a note issuance denominatedin Sterling Pounds as well as an Australian dollars bond issue.
New business initiatives that were started in late 2005 such as Abu DhabiBrokerage, ADCB Macquarie infrastructure and derivatives businesses haveall made major contributions to the revenue in 2006, as well. "We launched ADCB Macquarie Real Estate Capital PJSC a joint venture whichwill expand on the existing relationships between the two Banks to takeadvantage of the growth in the regional real estate sector and providea full range of broad-based real estate investment banking services toclients in the UAE", Knox explained. ADCB's re-branding efforts have been ongoing with a total of 17 of ourflag ship branches completely renovated with our new banking service design.In addition, the bank has opened a wealth management center and its fullservice brokerage in our new head office building in Abu Dhabi.
ADCB has been recognized by Euromoney as the "Best Middle Eastern Borrower"in recognition of its EMTN programme, syndicated loan and subordinateddebt issues. ADCB was also voted 'Best Local Currency FX Trading Bankin UAE' in a recent survey conducted by Euromoney'. In addition GlobalFinance Magazine awarded ADCB the Best Investment Bank 2006 in the UAE.These awards validate our efforts towards creating best practice standards,strengthening stakeholders' confidence and maintaining high performancelevels. We are committed to sustain the growth, profitability and customerexpectations, and maintain our hall mark in terms of performance, innovation,security and quality," Saeed Al Hajeri concluded.
