United Arab Bank P.J.S.C. (UAB) announces its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2011. UAB reported an impressive set of financial results that confirmed its status as the UAE’s “Bank of the Year”, as awarded by the Financial Times Banker magazine of the United Kingdom.
 
By playing an active role in supporting different sectors of the economy, UAB has also established itself as the fastest growing bank in the region.

The combined effect of these initiatives enabled UAB to increase its total assets beyond Dhs10bn for the first time in its 37 year history. As at 31 December 2011, the total assets reached Dhs10.8bn, a 40% increase over the Dhs7.7bn reported in the previous year. This growth in assets was supported by a by 72% growth in customer deposits in 2011 to reach Dhs7.3bn, compared to Dhs4.3bn in 2010. This growth in the funding base enabled UAB to increase its loans and advances by an impressive 46%, from Dhs5.5bn in 2010 to Dhs8.1bn. The Bank also made significant strides to ensure that its liquid assets were sufficient to meet its ongoing needs.

Paul Trowbridge, the Bank’s Chief Executive Officer said, “UAB has taken positive steps to deliver its strategy of supporting UAE-based companies and individuals in these difficult economic times. By understanding the needs of our customers, we have been able to tailor our products and services to the specific needs of each client. These actions have enabled the Bank to grow at unprecedented rates. Our approach is recognized by respected third parties and we were delighted to receive the “UAE Bank of the Year 2011″award from the Financial Times of London, which also reflects very favourably on the dedication and commitment of our staff.

The growth in the Bank’s balance sheet and customer base is reflected in the growth in operating profit, which crossed Dhs400m for 2011, an improvement of 22% over 2010. Mr. Trowbridge also commented, “UAB remains committed to a prudent policy of provisioning in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Central Bank of the UAE. Consequently, UAB’s management ensured that its specific and collective provisions meet all regulatory requirements.” After accounting for such provisions, UAB was able to deliver a net profit of Dhs330m, another record for the Bank, compared to Dhs308m in 2010.

The Bank has continued its branch expansion programme, opening outlets in Sharjah, Fujairah, Ras al Khaimah and Abu Dhabi. Four new branches are also scheduled to open early in 2012, whilst the renovation of all existing branches has now been completed. Apart from the overall growth in the Bank’s business, UAB has consistently grown its Emiratisation levels to reach 41% in 2011 which is one of the highest percentages of any bank in the UAE.

Highlighting another key milestone in UAB’s development, Mr. Trowbridge said “UAB would like to take this opportunity to announce the purchase of a new Head Office building which will be operational in the latter part of 2012. The new 27 storey Tower overlooking Al Buhaira Corniche will reflect the modern face of UAB. This is another landmark in the Bank’s development and demonstrates the need to scale up our activities in order to provide the best level of service and support to our loyal customers.
The Bank maintains a significant level of capital to cater for unforeseen eventualities and the Capital Adequacy ratio as at December 2011 continues to exceed 20%. In terms of liquidity, UAB’s advances to stable resources ratio is 87% at the end of 2011, compared to 86% in 2010
In other key achievements in 2011, UAB was recognized as the Best Trade Finance House in the UAE and the largest residential mortgage provider in the country during 2011. Other accolades received by the Bank in 2011 included “Best Bank in the UAE” Award from the Global Banking & Finance Review, UK; “Best Bank in UAE” Award from Arab Investment Summit, “Best Design Award for Islamic Credit Card from Visa” and “Best Technical Award” from the Banker Web Ranking Committee.

To support the rapid growth, a number of strategic projects have been implemented during the year. The Bank was able to finalize the outsourcing of all its key Operational Processes to Tata Consultancy Services, India, whilst the project to implement a new Core Banking system replacing the existing operating platform is nearing completion.

The CEO further noted that the strategic alliance with the Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQ) has been delivering its goals. Leveraging on the Sadara Wealth Management programme and Islamic Banking platform of CBQ, UAB’s Retail Banking was able to more than double its balance sheet in 2011. UAB became a part of the GCC regional alliance in December, 2007 upon acquisition of a 40% interest by CBQ. With CBQ concluding a similar alliance with National Bank of Oman, all the three banks are more strongly positioned for future growth. “2012 promises to be another challenging year for the UAE economy and the banking community. We at UAB have positioned ourselves to meet the challenges, through the ongoing support of our Alliance partners coupled with our commitment to meeting our customers’ needs” he said.

Sheikh Mohammed was speaking at the opening ceremony for the Dubai's second Metro line

Dubai has overcome the financial crisis that forced it to delay debt payments two years ago, its ruler said.

“Dubai is well,” Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said on Friday at the opening ceremony for the emirate’s second Metro line. He also said he was concerned about the debt crisis in some European countries.

The second-biggest of seven sheikhdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates, Dubai has seen its credit risk fall since the start of the year even as political turmoil pushed rates higher in neighbouring Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Unlike the two, Dubai didn’t experience anti-government protests.

Dubai’s credit risk has dropped in the past two years as debt-restructuring deals, bond repayments and profitability at companies boost confidence in the emirate’s economic rebound.

The cost of insuring Dubai government debt against default for five years was at 404 basis points today, down from 415 at the end of 2010, according to data provider CMA. The company is owned by CME Group Inc. and compiles prices quoted by dealers in the privately negotiated market.

Dubai, the Middle East’s tourism and trade hub, suffered after the onset of the global crisis in 2008 as property prices crashed and credit markets froze. Tourism, trade and transport are recovering after a $20bn bailout in 2009 from the UAE’s central bank and neighboring Abu Dhabi to repay part of its debt. Dubai and its state-owned companies borrowed about $113bn, according to an International Monetary Fund report in June.

The Dubai government raised $500m from the sale of 10-year bonds with a five-year put option in June at a yield of 3.75 percent over the five-year mid-swap rate, or 5.59 percent. The yield on the notes advanced 2 basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 5.65 percent at 6:34 pm in Dubai.

Leading business analytics software provider is ‘Bronze sponsor’ at leading financial technology summit

May 29, 2011

SAS Middle East, the leading provider of business analytics software and services in the Middle East region, is set to highlight its integrated suite of strategic and essential banking solutions for the region’s top banking and financial based institutions at MEFTEC 2011, the world’s premier financial technology event for emerging markets, which will take place from May 30, 2011 to May 31, 2011 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The event will act as a platform for the leading company to showcase its wide range of solutions in enterprise risk management; governance, risk and compliance and fraud & financial crimes for customers in the region. SAS is the ‘Bronze Sponsor’ at the event and will be located at Stand J4.

This is the first time that SAS is participating at MEFTEC and the company has revealed a five-point objective for the event, which includes the move to increase more brand awareness; highlight SAS’ strong foothold and presence in the region’s banking industry; meet and network with existing customers and new prospects; follow up on leads; and showcase SAS’ partnerships with Paladion and MAVEN. The company is expected to highlight the significance of using high-quality reliable solutions that can help improve key financial tasks like credit scoring and risk management for banking, liquidity and credit. SAS will also promote its software solutions against fraud and financial crimes like enterprise risk management, anti-money laundering and social network analysis.

“We are looking forward to our participation at MEFTEC 2011 in Abu Dhabi, which will allow us the opportunity to leverage the wide range of essential banking software across participants and visitors of the event,” said Amir Sohrabi, Alliances & Partner Development Manager, SAS Middle East. “During the event, we aim to promote key customer intelligence solutions and essential anti-fraud and risk management solutions in conjunction with our partners MAVEN and Paladion. These offerings reflect the combination of our technology strength with our partner’s domain expertise, which has enabled us to become one of the region’s most sought after technology and solution providers.”

MEFTEC is the world’s premier financial technology event for emerging markets that aims to connect IT decision-makers from the financial industry with leading-edge solution providers. This year’s edition of the event is expected to be the biggest ever, with more than 500 hosted delegates and 100 exhibitors. Now in its 7th successful year, MEFTEC is run like a private club with delegate admission limited to the financial industry’s finest IT buyers, and exhibitor attendance to an elite band of leading-edge financial technology vendors.

“Participating at MEFTEC will give us a closer look at how we can help the Middle East banking and finance sector in overcoming key challenges by utilizing our banking-specific solutions. We expect to see a wave of investments in the region’s banking industry and are upbeat on implementing new state-of-the-art anti-money laundering capabilities that will leverage robust analytic approaches to address false positive issues. This will also ensure that investigators are spending their time addressing true suspicious behaviour and filing better reports to the regulators. We are upbeat that our presence at MEFTEC will not only draw in more prospective clients but also increase more awareness on the effectiveness and reliability of our solutions,” concluded Jonathon Saunders, Sales Director, SAS Middle East.

- GREATER TAX TRANSPARENCY FOR BUSINESSES -

15 March 2010, Manama: A Bahrain–United Kingdom (UK) Double Taxation Agreement (BAH-UK-DTA), signed on March 10th, will further enhance financial and economic cooperation between the two countries encouraging greater trade and joint investment, said Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, Chief Executive of the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB).

The BAH-UK-DTA ensures the elimination of double taxation on income and capital gains for enterprises operating in both countries.  Signed by H.E. Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s Minister of Finance, and H.E. Jamie Bowden OBE, British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain, the agreement is part of continued efforts by the two countries to extend their economic treaty network.  It adds to the already signed Treaty of Friendship, Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments, and Memorandum of Understanding on Economic and Technical Cooperation. 

Shaikh Mohammed said: “This agreement is testament to Bahrain’s open, transparent approach to good governance, business and investment and to our commitment to bolstering cooperation in exchanging information with other countries including the United Kingdom.  Bahrain has historic links with the UK; we are both well established financial centres and this agreement reflects the keenness of our two countries to further strengthen business ties”. 

“It will help to create a platform for foreign investment in the Bahrain economy and for Bahrain companies to benefit from the opportunity to expand into overseas markets.  It is another step in creating the framework that will allow for a dynamic private sector in Bahrain, one that will be the engine of future economic growth to help achieve the ambitions of Vision 2030 and the National Economic Strategy.”

Bahrain’s Vision 2030 and National Economic Strategy are designed to drive the private sector as an engine of growth, support further diversification of the economy and ultimately elevate national living standards by creating greater opportunities for all Bahrainis. 

The BAH-UK-DTA joins 27 existing signed Agreements on the Avoidance of Double Taxation; this number could soon be bolstered by a further 11 other such agreements which have been concluded by the Ministry of Finance and are awaiting signature.  It is one of 16 DTAs signed by Bahrain which comply with the standard on Exchange of Tax Information, set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and endorsed by the G20 at its summit in London, April 2009.  These are with key trading partners across the MENA region such as Jordan, Morocco and Syria, and internationally with the likes of China, France and Singapore.

The strong progress made by Bahrain in the past year on the issue of transparency and exchange of tax information has been recognised by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (GFTEI)   In its international ranking of the progress made in implementing the internationally agreed standard on exchange of tax information, the GFTEI last year promoted Bahrain to rank alongside leading financial centres such as the UK and United States.

On signing the BAH-UK-DTA, H.E. Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa said: “Bahrain is continuing to focus on strengthening cooperation with other countries across the globe in areas including finance, economy and investment. Through key talks, bilateral and multilateral agreements, as well as memoranda of understanding – which provides a legal framework for this cooperation – Bahrain is enhancing its competitiveness as a well-diversified and growing economy.”

Ambassador Bowden said; “This is the latest indication of the close ties between two key centres of international finance, the UK and Bahrain.  The elimination of double taxation on income and capital gains in each other’s countries is a positive step towards facilitating investment.”

As well as the BAH-UK-DTA Bahrain’s tax treaty network includes agreements with several Asian countries including China and Malaysia, European countries  such as France and the Netherlands, MENA countries such as Egypt and Jordan, OECD members such as Belgium and Turkey, and financial centres such as Luxembourg and Singapore. The tax treaty network with these countries is supported by bilateral investment treaties which promote and protect investments.  The Kingdom has also signed bilateral investment treaties with other countries including India, Italy and the USA, and Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with trading partners such as the USA and Singapore. 

Brian Haughan Appointed as Chief Operations Officer;

Rajeev Agarwal Assumes Role of Chief Financial Officer

Dubai, UAE – March 2, 2010    EastNets, a leading global provider of compliance and payments solutions, announced today that the company has added two key executives to its management team to support its business growth plans. EastNets welcomes Brian Haughan as Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Rajeev Agarwal as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Brian will be responsible for overall business operations and is based in EastNets’ Waterloo, Belgium offices.  He brings over 27 years of professional experience, including 21 years at SWIFT where he was Executive Head of Customer Operations for four years, and  Executive Head of Products for two years.

Rajeev holds more than 19 years of professional and managerial experience and is based in EastNets headquarters in Dubai. He holds a CPA from the U.S., a CGA from Canada, a CISA, and a CA.  Prior to his appointment with EastNets, Mr. Agarwal was CFO at OceanLake Commerce Inc. as well as Vice President of Finance for Dyadem, a QLM & process risk management software company. In addition, he was also a Senior Director of Finance at Workbrain, a workforce management software company.

“We are very pleased to have such high caliber executives as Brian and Rajeev join the company and  lead the operations and finances of our organization and help EastNets to grow revenue and improve profitability, streamline financial activities, strengthen our ability to achieve operational excellence, and develop innovative new products,” said Hazem Mulhim, CEO of EastNets. “We look forward to their contributions towards EastNets’ enhanced performance, specifically their

assistance in the delivery of value to the market and our global customer base with high quality solutions and services to improve transparency, resiliency and financial controls.”

• Seminar to discuss sector-wide challenges requiring financial scrutiny

• 9 per cent rise in upstream Gulf oil projects in 2009

Bassam Samman, CEO & Founder of CMCS

CMCS (Collaboration, Management and Control Solutions), a Certified Advantage Partner in the Oracle PartnerNetwork, has announced a half-day seminar to discuss the role of project portfolio management in enhancing capital investments and maintaining the value of Oil & Gas (O&G) projects in the Gulf, at the Le Meridian Hotel - Abu Dhabi today (October 28, 2009). Read the full story

Third quarter revenues stand at AED 487.6 million

Fadi Ghandour, Founder and CEO of Aramex

Aramex (DFM: ARMX), the global logistics solutions provider, announced today its financial results for the three months ending September 30, 2009. The company declared a net profit of AED 41.7 million for the period, an increase of 23 per cent compared to AED 33.9 million in the corresponding period of 2008. Revenues for the third quarter of this year stood at AED 487.6 million, a decline of 11 per cent compared to AED 545.7 million in the same period last year. Read the full story

Total assets stand at AED 82.9 billion; deposits touch AED 66.1 billion

His Excellency Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani, Director-General of His Highness The Ruler’s Court of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Islamic Bank

Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) announced today its financial results as of September 30, 2009, demonstrating its resilient operations and robust core business despite global challenges facing the financial services sector.

The bank reported a net profit of AED 1.12 billion for the first nine months of 2009, continuing the trend of positive performance in the year to date. In line with its long-term prudent and conservative approach, DIB has made impairment provisions of AED 403 million for the same period, impacting its net profitability. Read the full story

His Excellency Mr Sami Al Qamzi, Director General of the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED), honoured the Dubai team involved in fulfilling the requirements of the ‘Doing Business 2010’ report of the International Finance Corporation and World Bank. The concerted efforts of various governmental organisations in the UAE have contributed to elevating the country’s position by 14 ranks to No 33 in the report. Read the full story

Mohamed Al Sari, Managing Director of GGICO

Gulf General Investment Company PSC (GGICO) announced net profit of AED 198 million for the 1st half of 2009, with revenues of AED  3.1 billion. Read the full story