ENBD eyes 25-40% retail lending boom

Dubai lender’s confidence returns

DUBAI, April 15, (RTRS): Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest lender, expects its retail lending to jump between 25 and 40 percent in 2013 as consumer confidence returns in the United Arab Emirates, its retail banking head said on Monday.

Cautioning that the numbers were coming off a low base after two years of weak growth, Suvo Sarkar said a rise in lending was occurring across all sectors — with mortgage lending forecast to double this year and credit card spending, the average amount spent on each transaction, expected to rise 20 percent.

ENBD presently generates around 95 nity to grow our business. We want to participate in these opportunities,” Troop said.

The bank has received shareholder approval for its capital-raising plan and now requires the nod of the Qatar Financial Markets Authority and the Ministry of Business and Trade, Troop said, adding that the bank was in discus- percent of its revenue from its home market, although it is hoping to increase its international business to 15-20 percent in five years, helped by acquisitions such as of BNP Paribas’ Egyptian assets, its chief executive told Reuters in November.

Dubai’s economy boomed in the mid2000s but suffered a major set-back in the last two years of the decade as a real estate bubble burst, sending prices down more than 50 percent. Defaults on personal lending shot up and government-related entities were forced to restructure billions of dollars of debt.

However, there have been signs of sions with both entities. He did not give a time frame for the share issues.

Barwa Bank is 37.3 percent owned by Barwa Real Estate Co while Qatar Holding, the investment arm of the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund, has 12.1 percent. The remaining shares are owned by several individuals and corporations, according to the bank’s results state- recovery since last year, with property prices rising again and the Dubai stock market hitting a 40-month high on Thursday.

Lessons have been learnt from the bad times, Sarkar said.

“All the banks are far more prudent than five years back — you won’t see the madness we saw before,” Sarkar said on the sidelines of a retail banking conference in Dubai.

The more careful approach to lending has also been forced upon banks by a more cautious regulatory regime, including the introduction of caps on personal lending. ments.

One project in which the bank hopes to participate is Qatar’s planned rail scheme, Troop said, adding that Barwa was part of an Islamic banking consortium looking at the opportunity.

“Those kinds of opportunities won’t require foreign support,” he said.

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