Dubai Banks’ Profits Declines 35% In Q1

The net profits of Dubai-based banks dipped by nearly 35 per cent in the first quarter of 2012 and the bulk of the decline was in the income of Emirates NBD (ENBD), their balance sheets showed on Monday.

But the combined assets, deposits and loans of the four banks recorded an increase in the same period and most of the rise was in ENBD.

From around Dh2,150 million in the first quarter of 2011, the net earnings of ENBD, Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), Mashreq Bank and Dubai Commercial Bank (DCB) slumped to nearly Dh1,399 million in the first quarter of 2012.

The figures, published in Alkhaleej newspaper and other dailies, showed ENBD’s profits plunged to Dh641 million from Dh1.4 billion and those of DCB to around Dh242.4 million from Dh263.2 million.

But the earnings of DIB grew to Dh245 million from Dh222 million while those of Mashreq edged up to Dh271 million from Dh265.3 million.

The report showed the collective assets of the four banks swelled to nearly Dh505 billion at the end of March 2012 from Dh485.5 billion at the end of March 2011 to maintain their position as having nearly a quarter of the total assets of the UAE’s 51 banks.

A breakdown showed ENBD controlled more than half the assets of the Dubai banks, with its assets rising to Dh296.7 billion from Dh284.6 billion.

The deposits with the four banks also increase to about Dh349.3 billion from Dh326.4 billon and the bulk of the rise was in ENBD deposits, which reached Dh208.5 billion compared with Dh193.3 billion.

The report showed lending by the four banks remained slow with total credit rising by only around 0.4 per cent to Dh268.7 billion by the end of March this year from Dh267.5 billion by the end of March 2011.