Emirates NBD gets nod to upsize debt programme

24 February 2016

Dubai’s largest lender received shareholder’s approval to raise the size of debt programme to $12.5bn

Dubai’s Emirates NBD, the biggest bank by assets in the emirate, has received shareholders’ approval to increase the size of its euro medium-term note (EMTN) programme to $12.5bn from previous $7.5bn.

Emirates NBD also got a nod to establish similar debt programmes.

The shareholders approved issuance of debt, including without limitation, through the conventional notes, structured notes or through means of debt funding, ENBD said in a statement to Dubai Financial Market.

The lender on 18 January on had reported a 39 per cent jump in 2015 net profit as income rose and provisions dropped. Net profit rose to AED7.12bn ($1.94bn) from AED5.14bn for the year ending 31 December 2014. Total income jumped 5 per cent to AED15.2bn while deposits grew by 11 per cent to AED287bn.

The impaired loans ratio for the lender dropped to 7.1 percent from 7.9 per cent for the same period. The impairment charge of AED3.4bn during the year was 32 per cent lower than in 2014.

The cost of risk for Emirates NBD, whose assets crossed AED100bn mark for the first time last year, has also fallen for the sixth consecutive quarter while the net provisions include over AED2bn of write-backs and recoveries, which helped in boosting the bank’s coverage ratio to 111.5 per cent, the lender said in a bourse filing.

Income for the bank’s global markets and treasury operations, however, fell sharply by AED636m to AED199m at the end of 2015 due to re-alignment of internal management reporting structure. A combination of a reduction in the size of the investment portfolio as well as the roll-off of some balance sheet hedges also contributed to reduced income, the lender said.

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