Lehman fate wil not hurt UAE banks

Abu Dhabi: UAE banks have "virtually no exposure" to bankrupt Lehman Brothers and the country's banking industry faces no "systemic risk" from the problems in global money markets, the UAE Central Bank said.

The banking regulator discussed various suggestions for boosting liquidity with local banks and will take "appropriate decisions very soon".

Meanwhile, a top official of the UAE's largest bank by assets, Emirates NBD, told Gulf News yesterday that the bank's exposure to Lehman Brothers Holdings is "significantly below $5 million."

"Our exposure to Leh-man Brothers is negligible. Given the fact that our balance sheet is over $75 billion, $5 million is insignificant," said Sanjay Uppal, group chief financial officer, Emirates NBD.

"Our exposure to Leh-man Brothers is spread across business streams that include our global markets and financial institutions businesses," Uppal said, without elaborating.

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) said it has "no direct exposure" to the bankrupt global investment bank.

An NBAD statement said the bank has "no direct exposure to Lehman Brothers or American International Group (AIG)."

"The bank has an exposure to a subsidiary of AIG in the UAE, fully secured by commercial property which is currently fully let and rental generating with a market value providing cover of 150 per cent," it added.

Meanwhile, Economy Minister Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri said the government has no plans to support local stock exchanges. .

"The government has nothing to do with losses as the UAE has adopted a free market system and there is no liquidity crisis." Al Mansouri said.

- With inputs from Reuters and Bloomberg