Dubai’s top lender Emirates NBD third quarter profit rises 38 pct

Emirates NBD, Dubai’s biggest lender by assets, said on Thursday its third-quarter net profit rose 38 percent year-on-year, partly due to loan growth and steady low-cost funding that allowed the bank to benefit from higher interest rates.

Profit for the quarter was Dh 5.2 billion ($1.42 billion), roughly in line with analysts’ median estimate of Dh 5.18 billion, according to LSEG data.

The bank, majority owned by the government of Dubai, reported a 29 percent rise in net interest income to Dh 7.8 billion, while non-funded income rose 49 percent to Dh 3.6 billion.

At the end of September, total assets were up 16 percent year-on-year to Dh 836 billion , gross loans were up 8 percent to Dh 494 billion and deposits were 19 percent higher at Dh 570 billion.

Its non-performing loans ratio dipped to 5.5 percent from 5.8 percent a year earlier. Impairment allowances dropped 54 percent “as credit quality improved, reflecting the group’s prudent approach to credit provisions,” it said in its statement.

Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, vice chairman and managing director, said lending to small and medium businesses rose 34 percent in the UAE, “supporting this important sector and bedrock of the economy.”