Abu Dhabi: The Board of Directors of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank approved a dividend payout for 2017 of 42 per cent of the bank’s capital.

Dividend payout totals Dh2.18 billion, chairman of the bank Eisa Mohammad Al Suwaidi said at the Annual General Meeting on Tuesday.

ADCB made a net profit of Dh4.27 billion in 2017 compared to Dh4.15 billion in 2016.

Al Suwaidi said last year was a challenging one when it came to the economy, oil prices and regional differences. The introduction of some new taxes also had an impact. But, despite these issues, it was good year for ADCB in terms of financial performance, he said.

“Now we have entered 2018 with optimism. Given that oil prices have shown signs of recovery and the government’s fiscal position is stronger, we see growth in our operations and a rising demand for credit. These factors are encouraging and we are facing much better prospects this yea,” he said.

He also said the bank is investing heavily in digitisation and is already seeing great results.

“Digitisation is very important. We realised that a long time ago and we are investing heavily on this front.”