Dubai Emirates Islamic Bank (EIB), which belongs to the Emirates NBD Group, reported a full-year net loss Monday due to significantly higher impairments on financing and investment activities and a surge in expenses.
The bank posted a net loss of Dh448.55 million compared to a net profit of 59.34 million in 2010, the bank said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market.
The bank's total assets fell more than 32 per cent to Dh21.48 billion from Dh32.74 billion in 2010. While the income from financing activities declined from Dh919.88 million in 2010 to Dh699.95 million last year, the bank reported a loss of Dh45 million from investment in securities.
EIB's impairment allowances surged to Dh783.3 million last year from Dh530.5 million. The net impairments on financing receivables were up 86.8 per cent to Dh529 million last year from Dh283 million.
While impairment allowances on investments declined from Dh139 million in 2010 to Dh54.4 million, impairment to the bank's investment in properties rose 43 per cent to Dh199.65 million last year.
The bank's full year fin-ancial performance was impacted by a 15 per cent increase in expenses. Total expenses rose to Dh455.17 million from Dh395.81 million in 2010.
Emirates NBD, the parent company of EIB, will announce its 2011 result on February 15. Following the acquisition of Dubai Bank by Emirates NBD last year, the group has two Islamic banks.
It has been widely speculated that Dubai Bank will be merged eventually with EIB. The group's management has not yet given any clear indication on the likely merger. Dubai Bank has not reported its results for the last two years.
At the end of 2009, Dubai Bank had total assets of Dh17.4 billion against total liabilities of Dh15.7 billion. It made a loss of Dh290.6 million, wiping out 15 per cent of its equity, driven by high loan losses, investment losses and a high cost/income ratio. Customer deposits stood at Dh14.9 billion at the end of 2009.
