Ajman Bank to rein in foreign growth plans

Dubai: Ajman Bank said on Tuesday it could curb its foreign growth plans to focus on the United Arab Emirates in light of the global financial crisis, but it believes Islamic banks could benefit from the turmoil.

"We need to be extremely careful at this stage whether we will consider investing anything outside the UAE market," Chief Executive Officer Yousif Khalaf said.

"Before we had some sort of allocation for overseas investments. I think at this stage we will probably restrict it to the local market and wait and see how things will develop."

The seventh Islamic lender in the UAE, Ajman Bank listed on the Dubai bourse in June, saying at the time it planned to establish itself in the UAE then look to other Gulf and Islamic countries for future growth.

The credit crisis has since caused turmoil in international markets and has also squeezed liquidity in the UAE, the world's fourth largest exporter of crude oil, prompting the government to offer banks extra funds and guarantee deposits.

The crisis is widely expected to slow down a Gulf Arab real estate boom, which is also prompting Ajman Bank to rethink its strategy.

"When it comes to the strategy... to allocating our assets ... to liquidity positions and risk management scenarios, those will all be revisited because obviously now there is a need to set aside more liquidity than before, just in case," he said.

The bank expects to open its first flagship branch in Ajman in the fourth quarter, as planned.

Khalaf said it would also have a presence in the main emirates, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, in the next year.