Dubai’s sharia-compliant lender Emirates Islamic (EI) has cut about 200 jobs as part of a wider organisational restructuring, sources familiar with the situation have said.

Most of the affected employees are from the bank’s sales force. The majority were given their termination of service notice on 31 March, said the sources, who asked not to be identified.

A spokesman from EI declined to comment.

The lender, which is the Islamic banking arm of Dubai’s biggest lender Emirates NBD, is the latest among the UAE banks to lay off staff to save costs amid sluggish business. The lenders are grappling with government withdrawals, tightening liquidity, stunted loan growth and exposure to high-risk sectors such as contracting and property finance as the region’s economy slows on the back of low oil prices.

National Bank of Ras al-Khaimah (RAKBank), an Abu Dhabi-listed lender, shed close to 250 jobs in January, while First Gulf Bank (FGB), the country’s third-biggest bank by assets, cut 100 jobs in December from various departments including corporate and investment banking.

Local banks are not the only ones feeling the pinch in the UAE. UK-based Barclays laid off about 150 people from its corporate banking department in February as part of a wider restructuring of its business. The bank is aligning its Middle East corporate banking business to international locations such as the US, as well as to its regional investment arm and wealth and investment management business, a Barclays spokesperson said at that time.

The UK’s HSBC has also cut more than 150 jobs from its UAE banking operations, as Europe’s biggest lender implements its global downsizing plans amid declining profitability.

Similarly, UK-based Standard Chartered has reduced the headcount of senior-to-mid-level bankers in the UAE by about 100.

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