Mohamed Nasr Abdeen: A Veteran Arab Banker

Mohamed Nasr Abdeen a prominent Arab banker with 45-year experience in commercial and Islamic banking. He is an Egyptian banker who immigrated to Emirates three decades ago.

Abdeen is the CEO of UAE- based Union National Bank which is the only bank in UAE which is jointly owned by the Governments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. UNB posted high profit in 2011, despite the regional political and economic unrest that followed Arab spring events and the global financial crisis. The Bank recorded profit of 1.5 billion dirhams, with an increase of 11.1%, compared to that in 2010. In addition, the Bank increased profit with 596 million dirhams in the first quarter of the current year.

Abdeen started his career in National Bank of Egypt in 1965 till 1973 where he proved his worthiness, then he worked for the Libyan-owned National Company for Food Industries, and immigrated to Dubai in 1977 to work for Oman’s Mashreq Bank.

Abdeen has began working in Union National Bank in 1999 and managed made the bank a financial institutions offering various services from the base requirements to the most complicated services offered to large projects and companies.

Principles

Abdeen believes that leadership is from the key factors for achieving high results. From the key factors of success is making employees feel they are the owners of the institution and developing their abilities, Abdeen believes.

Leadership is not learned but it is a quality that is inherited or gained experience, which make the leader inspire the employees to reach the targeted goal. The leader has to have a clear vision for the present and the future. Challenges and difficulties shall not affect the leader and his vision.

Abdeen laid down UNB’s strategy that is based on main banking operations that enable the bank to achieve sustainable and good returns for shareholders on a long term basis, despite the successive global economic crises.

Abu Dhabi-headquartered UNB was established as a Public Joint Stock Company in 1982. It provides retail and commercial services.

Union Brokerage Company (UBC), one of the oldest brokerage firms in UAE, is a subsidiary of UNB. 

Al Wifaq Finance Company, also a subsidiary of UNB, provides Sharia compliant financial, commercial and investing services to both organizations and individuals in compliance with the rules and principals of the Islamic Law.

UNB has presence in Egypt through its acquisition of 94.9% of National Union Bank-Egypt. UNB has ventured into Doha with a branch at the Qatar Financial Centre and has also opened a representative office in Shanghai China, being the first bank from the region to do so. In 2011, UNB also received a license to operate in Kuwait. UNB is also reviewing other geographic locations for a presence or strategic alliances that will add to shareholder value.

Awards

During August 2009, Union National Bank became the first Bank in the in the region to receive the ISO 9001:2008 certification by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Limited, covering a complete range of banking products and services across Corporate, Retail, International, Treasury & Investment, Private Banking & Wealth Management together with all support functions across an extensive network of banking centres and alternate delivery channels throughout UAE.

UNB also won the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award (SKEA) in the financial category in the year 2002. In 2005, UNB was conferred with the coveted SKEA Award – Gold category for the financial services industry, one of the highest and prestigious awards for excellence in the region. UNB was internationally recognized when it received the ‘Funds Transfer Award for Increased Volumes and Overall Technical Performance’ from the Bank of New York in Dec 2005. UNB was honoured by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) with the Recognition of Commitment (ROC) Award for December 2005. The Bank received a Certificate of Appreciation’ from Commerzbank AG Frankfurt, Germany for ‘Straight Through Processing’ of 94% for MT103 messages. Year 2005 saw another affirmation of UNB’s dedication towards quality excellence when it won the Dubai Quality Award (DQA). In the year 2006, Forbes Arabia, the Dubai based edition of the world renowned business and financial magazine Forbes, ranked UNB as the number one bank in the UAE, in terms of performance.

In 2006 UNB was awarded with the Straight-Through-Processing (STP) Excellence Award from Deutsche Bank. In 2007 UNB was presented with the Excellent Quality in EURO Denominated Payments award from Commerzbank. In 2007 UNB was ranked as the Fastest moving bank in the region by ‘The Banker’ magazine. In 2008 the entire Bank including Private Banking & Wealth Management and Pay Offices was recertified for ISO 9001:2000. UNB was awarded the prestigious Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum Business Award- Finance Category for 2008. In 2009 Union Brokerage Company (UBC) became the first brokerage company in the Middle East to receive the ISO 9001:2008 certification by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Limited, for its entire range of services across the UAE.

Union National Bank has demonstrated remarkable consistency in the field of Quality and Business Excellence by becoming the first ever organization to receive its second Gold at the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Awards during November 2009. UNB is also the first Bank to have won the SKEA honour thrice in successive eligible cycles having earlier won the Award in 2002 and 2005. UNB wins the Dubai Quality Award 2009 for the second time.

Union National Bank has received an accolade at the Asian Leadership Awards 2011 by winning the “Dream Company to Work For…” award. Union National Bank was named the winner of the Best Domestic Retail Bank Award at the 2011 Banker Middle East Industry awards.

In 2010, Union National Bank won the Bank of the Year award at the Arabian Business Achievements Awards 2010. In 2010, UNB Group CEO was awarded the prestigious CEO Middle East Award Banking Category from the CEO Middle East Magazine Award.

In 2012, Union National Bank has won Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Business Award in the finance category for the second time, having earlier received this honor for the 2008 cycle.

UNB was awarded the distinguished Golden Award for quality from the Arab Administrative Development Organization member of the Arab League.

Union National Bank won the prestigious Superbrands award 2011; UNB has been voted by the Superbrands Council and over 2,500 marketing professionals in the UAE as a Superbrand for 2011. Union National Bank (UNB) has become the first Commercial Bank in the world to be certified by M/s Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) Ltd. to the Integrated Management System (IMS) comprising of three standards, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.

Union National Bank has been recognized as a Distinguished Honoree in two categories of the International Business Awards namely, Company of the year Financial Services and UNB CEO Mr Mohammad Nasr Abdeen as Executive of the Year Financial Services.

Hints to Success

The strong-willed talented Mohamed Nase Abdeen succeeded by providing three main factors; representing a creative model, serving customers by providing them with high-quality financial services and providing a perfect working atmosphere for employees, in addition to posting high profit rates.

CEO

Mohamed Nasr Abdeen is managing loans and advances with value of 58.1 billion dirhams, deposits of 63.4 billion dirhams and assets with value of 86.1 billion dirhams. UNB recorded the highest capital adequacy rate achieved by Gulf banks as it registered 21.8%.

Socrates Award

Abdeen was awarded the International Socrates Award for “Best Manager of the Year” from the Europe Business Assembly. The Europe Business Assembly organizes the Annual Socrates Awards as an ongoing initiative to highlight the achievements of leading organizations and their leaders, who through their hard work and exceptional business sense, support an exchange of ideas and experiences amongst the international community in the areas such as economics, politics, education and culture.

The Socrates Committee, established in Oxford – the centre of world education and culture, is an international independent society that over the past decade has recognized the best of the best. Amongst its members are leaders in business, science and culture.

Stevie Award

UNB won the coveted People’s Choice Stevie Award For Favourite Companies in the Financial Services category The People’s Choice Award was decided through online voting by the general public worldwide and UNB was adjudged the winner in the Financial services category based on the huge support and votes that the Bank got from its clients, customers and well wishers. UNB competed with the Banks, Insurance Companies, Finance Companies, Exchange Houses and Investment Companies.