Abu Dhabi: First Gulf Bank (FGB) is looking to expand its presence in Asia, particularly in China, and is set to upgrade its presence in India, according to Simon Penney, head of Wholesale Banking Group at FGB.
“Asia is a very important growth area for us. We’ve got a [representative] office in Hong Kong, but that’s not really servicing North Asia in a way where we think the opportunity is. We’re looking at other options around the presence in Hong Kong, and how we can better capitalise on that to access China,” Penney said.
He was speaking at a media round-table held by the bank on Thursday to mark its 35th anniversary where he said the group has ambitions to grow revenue and net profit from international sources.
Penney added that the group’s primary target was joining up trade and finance flows both into and out of the UAE.
“When people ask me about my biggest challenge in creating what we’ve tried to create [in wholesale banking], it’s actually not financial capital; it’s human capital. We’re going through a big change programme, and attracting talent on the size and scale that we’re doing is probably one of our biggest challenges,” he said.
Asked whether tumbling oil prices are impact the business and its clients, Penney said it was “not a catastrophic impact,” and that the UAE has been diversifying its economy to lower dependence on oil, which has meant more private-sector clients for FGB.
He added that growth over the next year or two was expected to come from the private sector.
