DUBAI - First Abu Dhabi Bank, the United Arab Emirates' largest lender, has hired Martin Tricaud as head of investment banking, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

Tricaud was previously chief executive officer for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey region at HSBC.

"Martin Tricaud will be responsible for leading FAB's group-wide investment banking business," the bank said, confirming what sources had told Reuters earlier.

Tricaud, who spent over 13 years at HSBC, left the UK-listed lender in April this year, according to his LinkedIn profile.

FAB has seen senior management level changes since the start of the year, the latest on Wednesday when its head of corporate finance Andy Cairns left, sources told Reuters on Tuesday.  

Earlier this year Hana al-Rostamani became the bank's first female chief executive, replacing banking veteran Andre Sayegh who retired.

FAB said it has also appointed Futoon Almazrouei, who was already working at the lender, as head of consumer banking.

FAB in recent years has become aggressive in the regional loans and bonds market, playing a major role in UAE, Saudi Arabian and Egyptian deals.

Prospects for UAE's banking sector have improved after the economic shock of COVID-19 last year, with rating agency Moody's predicting on Tuesday UAE's top banks are likely to see profits increase over the next 12 to 18 months as they book lower loan-loss provisions. 

(Reporting by Davide Barbuscia and Saeed Azhar; editing by Jason Neely and David Evans) ((Davide.Barbuscia@thomsonreuters.com; +971522604297; Reuters Messaging: davide.barbuscia.reuters.com@reuters.net))