Meed | UAE lenders chart a route to growth

UAE lenders chart a route to growth

10 April 2023

International markets may have been spooked by challenges in the global banking system that provide an eery reminder of past problems, but UAE lenders have little reason to fear that this year will interrupt the progress seen in 2022 as profits swelled on the back of an economy in recovery mode.

Contagion fears may be misplaced. UAE banks had minimal exposure to the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank. Unlike Saudi Arabia and Qatar, there was no UAE exposure to Credit Suisse – the troubled Swiss lender swallowed up by its larger rival UBS last month.

Although UAE lending rates are not as vibrant as some of its neighbours, with nothing to rival the housing finance-linked boom in Saudi Arabia, the country’s banks have nonetheless shown some impressive performance metrics. Overall sector profits grew by 31 per cent in 2022, while assets grew by 10.6 per cent, according to figures collated by KPMG.

Profitability of the four largest lenders, First Abu Dhabi Bank (Fab), Emirates NBD, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) and Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), which control almost three-quarters of the banking system, exceeded pre-pandemic levels in 2022 – reflecting strong growth in interest income and normalised provisioning charges, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Leading the pack, Emirates NBD showed a 40 per cent profit growth to AED13bn ($3.5bn), helped by a notably strong fourth-quarter performance that saw profits up by 94 per cent in year-on-year terms to AED3.9bn ($1.06bn) amid improving margins and a lower cost of risk.

DIB, the other Dubai lender of the big four UAE lenders, reported net profits up 26 per cent to AED5.5bn ($1.5bn), while ADCB reported a 23 per cent increase to AED6.4bn ($1.74bn). Fab, the UAE’s largest lender, had a more modest 7 per cent increase in net profits to AED13.4bn ($3.65bn).

Stabilising fundamentals

Banks can be confident that the prime source of their impressive profitability is unlikely to fade this year, given the global interest rate cycle. This continues last year’s picture. Net interest margins (NIMs) for UAE-listed banks grew 26 basis points (bps) in the fourth quarter of 2022, reaching 3 per cent for the first time, according to Kamco Invest Research.

“The interest rate environment reversed in 2022, driving aggregate growth of 28 per cent in the banks’ net interest income,” says Nitish Bhojnagarwala, senior credit officer at Moody’s.

“The growth reflected increasing asset yields, driven by rising interest rates, which more than offset higher funding costs.”

While the banks’ funding costs have increased, says Bhojnagarwala, they did not do so at the same rate, reflecting efforts to optimise their deposit mix and achieve strong zero or low-cost current and savings account balances, supporting margin growth.

NIMs should remain strong this year, not least given the continued cycle of rate rises emanating from the US Federal Reserve, which the UAE Central Bank tracks. The latter hiked its base rate by 25 bps to 5.5 per cent in March after the Fed hiked its base rate by a quarter per cent.

Some UAE lenders have also flagged priorities beyond fattening the bottom line. DIB said that given the rate environment and surplus liquidity, it had made a deliberate tactical move to support large corporate and public sector entities in adjusting and aligning their balance sheet in the new medium-term environment.

Elevated provisioning

Despite the strong conditions for profit growth, UAE banks will have a conservative strain in their approach to 2023, conscious of still elevated non-performing loan (NPL) ratios.

The big four banks’ NPL ratio declined to 5.3 per cent as of December 2022 from 5.9 per cent a year earlier.

“It remains high relative to the Gulf Cooperation Council region owing to the slower write-off policy of the UAE banks,” says Bhojnagarwala.

Coverage ratios have increased for the big four banks, standing at 100 per cent at year-end 2022, from 80 per cent a year earlier. Dubai’s ENDB was the standout bank here, with a coverage ratio of 145 per cent.

This reflects a broader tendency among banks to book higher provisions, with Dubai’s largest bank increasing absolute provisions in the fourth quarter of 2022 by $142.4m, reaching $517.9m.

Overall provisions booked by UAE-listed banks showed the biggest quarter-on-quarter percentage increase in the GCC of 40.2 per cent in the last quarter of 2022 to reach $1.23bn, says Kamco.

Moody’s anticipates loan loss provisions to stabilise at the current, pre-pandemic level and banks’ NPL ratio to improve modestly, driving higher coverage over the next 12-18 months.

“When we look at overall loan loss provisioning, it has fallen for two of the largest four banks, but in terms of cost of risk, fell by a collective 0.8 per cent from 1 per cent in 2021 and is now in line with pre-pandemic levels,” says Bhojnagarwala.

Evidence of faster payment settlements will bolster confidence levels among banks that credit losses will not rise this year. That may, in turn, afford more scope for lenders to scale back on provisioning at some point in the future.

Near future risk

Despite the improving conditions, analysts caution about potential economic headwinds.

Ratings agency S&P Global issued a warning earlier this year that real GDP growth could ease in 2023 and that the slowing of the non-oil sector will lower demand for credit. It sees the UAE property sector, which experienced strong demand in 2022 on the residential side, witnessing a moderation in price and rental increases this year.

UAE banks may need to countenance the prospect of higher problem loans in sectors such as construction and trade, as well as for some small and midsize enterprises. The latter is starting to feel the impact of more expensive credit in light of the higher interest rates.

Taken in context, this is unlikely to ruffle the Central Bank’s feathers. The country’s mix of elevated provisioning and strong profit performances suggest UAE banks will be suitably positioned to overcome such hurdles. And with healthy provisioning levels factored into the equation, the feeling remains that this year will continue the recovery record started in 2022.

This month's special report on the UAE also includes: UAE power sector shapes up ahead of Cop28

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James Gavin

Exclusive from Meed

Tender issued for Libyan gas project
17 September 2026
Aldar and Mubadala acquire Masdar City Square
17 September 2026
Dubai announces new 80km highway corridor
16 September 2026
Engineering progresses on Ras Laffan LNG terminal berths
16 September 2026
Design completed for Libyan oil field development
16 September 2026

Tender issued for Libyan gas project
17 September 2026
An invitation to bid has been issued for a contract to conduct environmental assessments for the project to expand the Mellitah oil and gas complex in Libya.

The bid submission deadline is 2pm today (17 September) Libyan time.

The scope of the project includes provision of:
- An environmental baseline study (EBS)
- An environmental impact assessment (EIA)
- An environmental management plan (EMP)
The client is Mellitah Oil & Gas (MOG), which is a joint venture of Italy’s Eni and Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC).

MOG is based in Tripoli and operates both onshore and offshore oil and gas facilities.

The joint venture owns and operates six major oil and gas fields across the North African country.

According to the tender documents, the company that is awarded the contract will need to prepare environmental management measures in compliance with:
- Libyan environmental legislation
- Ministry of Environment requirements
- NOC environmental guidelines
- Applicable international environmental standards and best practices
The expansion of the Mellitah oil and gas complex is part of a project estimated to be worth $8bn.

The wider project is known as the Mellitah Complex Expansion & CO2 Management Integrated Development Project.

It has six main packages:
- Onshore package
- Offshore Structure A
- Offshore Structure E
- Subsea pipeline package
- Site preparation work
- Carbon capture and storage facility
Security issues and political instability have been a major problem for Libya’s oil and gas sector since the country’s civil war started in 2011.

Earlier this month, the Mellitah oil and gas complex was forced to shut down temporarily due to a protest over deteriorating public services.

The existing onshore complex includes housing, processing units, storage facilities and export facilities.

It also serves as the launch point for the Greenstream pipeline, which delivers Libyan gas directly to Italy.

The planned expansion of the complex will involve:
- Construction of a new fourth gas processing train
- Construction of a third condensate train
- Construction of a third natural gas liquids fractionation train
- Construction of a fourth sulphur recovery unit train
- Installation of a hydrogen sulphide enrichment unit
- Installation of a sulphur recovery unit
- Construction of other associated facilities
The Mellitah complex is located about 100 kilometres west of Tripoli and is a key energy facility in the west of the country.
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Wil Crisp
Aldar and Mubadala acquire Masdar City Square
17 September 2026

Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company and local developer Aldar have completed the acquisition of Masdar City Square at Masdar City, in a transaction valued at AED918m ($250m).

The deal was executed through their joint venture established in 2024.

Masdar City Square comprises more than 47,000 square metres (sq m) of net leasable area across seven office buildings.

Completed in Q1 2026, the development is 99% occupied. Tenants include Taqa, the Department of Energy, Emirates College and the Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence.

The transaction expands the joint venture’s real estate portfolio in Masdar City, which is now valued at AED4.7bn ($1.3bn).

Masdar City is one of the region’s leading hubs for clean energy, artificial intelligence, advanced research and sustainable urban development.

The joint venture acquired The Link project at Masdar City for AED654m ($178m) in April.

Comprising about 32,000 sq m of net leasable area across five buildings, The Link is fully leased to a portfolio of major tenants, including Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and the Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence.

The asset includes Grade A, Leed Platinum office space, a net-zero-energy headquarters building, a multi-use hall and residential accommodation, supporting its position as a high-performing, integrated component of Masdar City.

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Yasir Iqbal
Dubai announces new 80km highway corridor
16 September 2026

Dubai has approved the construction of the new fourth corridor, a major highway programme aimed at boosting inter-emirate connectivity, increasing road capacity and easing congestion.

The corridor will extend 80 kilometres, from Al-Faya Road in Abu Dhabi to Al-Shanouf Road in Sharjah.

It will include 12 lanes, 72 bridges and 17 tunnels.

The project is expected to reduce travel times by up to 60% and serve more than 3.1 million people, while providing links to Al-Maktoum International airport and Etihad Rail.

It will have the capacity to accommodate 24,000 vehicles per hour in each direction.

The project will be delivered in two phases. The first phase, running from Al-Shanouf Road to Dubai-Al Ain Road, will be delivered at a cost of AED3.5bn ($953m).

The second phase will stretch from Dubai-Al Ain Road to Al-Faya Road in Abu Dhabi.

Hamdan bin Mohammed: In line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to boost investment in infrastructure, I approved the New Fourth Corridor to strengthen Dubai’s road network and enhance connectivity with the UAE’s federal road network.… pic.twitter.com/zlIyY2yKBN

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) September 16, 2026

The scheme adds a fourth spine to a network that has long relied on three main corridors: the E11 (Sheikh Zayed Road/Al-Ittihad Road); the E311 (Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Road) and the E611 (Emirates Road), which together carry more than 850,000 vehicles commuting between Dubai and the northern emirates daily.

That concentration has made the route one of the country’s most congested, with peak-hour bottlenecks a persistent problem for residents. The new corridor is designed to divert a significant share of that traffic onto a higher-capacity route, rather than add pressure to the existing network.

The project also aligns with the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan, which anticipates population growth to 5.8 million by 2040 and calls for the expansion of roads, railways, airports and ports to support that growth and reinforce Dubai’s position as a global trading hub. This is reflected in the corridor’s direct links to Al-Maktoum International airport and Etihad Rail.

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Yasir Iqbal

Engineering progresses on Ras Laffan LNG terminal berths

16 September 2026

Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access

Front-end engineering and design (feed) works are progressing on a QatarEnergy LNG project to build 13 liquefied natural gas (LNG) loading berths at the south export terminal in Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City.

Ras Laffan Industrial City, which lies about 90 kilometres north of Doha, is the world's largest integrated LNG production and export complex, comprising 15 processing trains with a total capacity of 77.5 million tonnes a year (t/y). QatarEnergy began LNG operations at the facility, which houses all its processing trains and export infrastructure, in 1984.

According to sources, QatarEnergy LNG, a subsidiary of state enterprise QatarEnergy, awarded the feed contract for the project to build 13 LNG berths at the south export terminal at Ras Laffan to Australia-headquartered Worley.

The contract was awarded to Worley in the second quarter of this year. Its duration is estimated to be 200,000-250,000 man hours, sources told MEED.

Ras Laffan’s LNG processing and export capabilities will increase by up to about 63% when the three phases of QatarEnergy’s estimated $40bn North Field LNG expansion project come into operation by the end of this decade. Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works on all three projects are progressing.

QatarEnergy is understood to have committed nearly $30bn to the first two phases – North Field East (NFE) and North Field South (NFS) – which will lift Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77.5 million t/y to 126 million t/y by 2028.

QatarEnergy awarded the main EPC contracts for NFE in 2021. The project was intended to raise LNG output to 110 million t/y by 2025. The $13bn EPC package – covering the engineering, procurement, construction and installation of four LNG trains, each with a capacity of 8 million t/y – was awarded in February 2021 to a consortium of Japan’s Chiyoda and France’s Technip Energies.

In May 2023, QatarEnergy awarded the $10bn main EPC contract for NFS to a consortium of Technip Energies and Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC). The contract includes two LNG trains, each with a capacity of 7.8 million t/y.

Once fully operational, the first two phases are expected to add 48 million t/y of LNG supply to the global market.

QatarEnergy took the final investment decision on the third phase, North Field West (NFW), this year, awarding an EPC contract estimated at $8bn to a joint venture comprising Technip Energies, CCC and Gulf Asia Contracting in February.

Chiyoda carried out the feed work for the NFW LNG project.

The NFW scope covers the EPC of two LNG trains with a combined capacity of 16 million t/y, as well as associated facilities for gas treatment, natural gas liquids recovery and helium extraction.

In addition to LNG, NFW is expected to produce about 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day of condensate, ethane and liquefied petroleum gas.

With all three phases under EPC execution – and NFE scheduled for commissioning later this year – QatarEnergy is positioning itself to remain one of the world’s largest LNG suppliers in the long term.

READ THE SEPTEMBER 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

Nuclear power ambitions gather pace; Kuwait keeps dealmaking alive despite war; Region invests in raising gas processing capacity.

Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the September 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

> AGENDA: Gulf nuclear revival takes shape

> MARKET FOCUS: Kuwait keeps dealmaking alive under fire

> INDUSTRY REPORT: Gas processing takes centre stage in Mena region

> INTERVIEW: Emsteel persists with business productivity and efficiency

> TUNNELS: The Gulf’s next construction boom is happening underground

To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here

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Indrajit Sen

Design completed for Libyan oil field development

16 September 2026

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Design work has been completed for a project to develop Libya’s I/R oil field, according to industry sources.

The front-end engineering and design work was completed by a team in the London offices of Italy’s EniProgetti and paves the way for the main engineering, procurement and construction contract to be tendered.

One source said: “At the moment, there is no fixed date for when the invitation to bid for the main contract will be issued, but the project has a lot of momentum and is progressing towards tendering.”

The I/R oil field is located in Murzuq Basin in southwestern Libya.

In June this year, Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) signed a unified operating agreement for the field.

The I/R field is operated by Akakus Oil Operations, which is a joint venture of NOC in partnership with Spain’s Repsol, France’s TotalEnergies Repsol, Austria’s OMV and Norway’s Equinor.

The agreement in June was signed by NOC as well as its concession partners.

NOC said the agreement would unify operational and administrative procedures related to field management, optimise resource utilisation and support production sustainability.