Emirates NBD eyes wider corporate loan market

Dubai: Emirates NBD said yesterday that it expects strong growth in corporate lending supported by growing private and public sector spending within the UAE and the region.

The Gulf's largest bank by assets yesterday inaugurated the large corporate unit (LCU), marking the integration of the large corporate client business of Emirates Bank International and National Bank of Dubai, whose merger created Emirates NBD in October last year.

The newly launched LCU will manage large corporate accounts of Emirates NBD worth Dh130 billion.

"Currently our corporate business accounts for more than 40 per cent of our total assets and our market share is about 20 per cent. We expect strong potential for the large corporate business within the UAE and the region," said Ahmad Humaid Al Tayer, Chairman of Emirates NBD, on the sidelines of a press conference in Dubai.

Rapid progress

Regarding integration of the operations of Emirates Bank and NBD, Al Tayer said the new entity had made rapid progress and was expected to complete it by the end of this year.

Unification of accounts and services are expected to happen within the originally set time frame. The bank has already fully integrated its 474-strong ATM network in the UAE.

Following the creation of the LCU, the bank expects to fully integrate the corporate accounts of both EBI and NBD. "After integrating the large corporate accounts, we are currently consulting with our customers on unifying the procedures of granting credit facilities for all our large corporate clients to enable our customers to bank with us through one account," said Mahdi Kazim, general manager of LCU, Emirates NBD.

Meanwhile, Emirates NBD has arranged a $75 million club loan facility for UkrSibbank BNP Paribas Group, Ukraine. The facility has a tenor of 364 days and pays a margin of one per cent per annum over Libor.

UkrSibbank will use the facility for general corporate funding purposes. Placement of the facility was focused on Middle East and Asia and the deal was subscribed with the participation of six banks from various countries, including the UAE, Oman and Japan.