UAE bank ADIB has no further capital plans – CEO

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank has no current plans to raise more capital after a rights issue last month, its chief executive said on Monday, adding that the lender would eschew expansion to focus on existing markets.

The largest Islamic lender in the emirate raised Dhs 504m ($137m) in September through the sale of new shares in an offering that was nearly three times covered by shareholders.

“I think for the time being, this is the right level we need,” CEO Tirad al-Mahmoud told Reuters TV in an interview on the sidelines of an Islamic finance conference in Dubai.

ADIB’s capital adequacy ratio – an indicator of a bank’s health – was 14.01 per cent at the end of June, before the rights issue according to its financial statement. That’s above the 12 per cent required by the regulator in the United Arab Emirates.

Mahmoud said the bank would grow by “mid-single-digits” in 2015 and its capital was sufficient for this level, though he did not say what growth he was referring to. ADIB posted a 10.5 per cent rise in net profit in the second quarter.

ADIB had no plans to expand into new markets and would instead focus on where it has existing operations, Mahmoud said.

“At the end of 2008, when there was a major financial crisis around the world, there was a huge opportunity and we grabbed it,” he said, adding that ADIB was three times bigger than in 2007.

“Right now, the markets are different and we have to focus on where we are currently present. We’re not planning to enter any new countries or buy any new institutions.”

Mahmoud said in July the bank was looking at Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as Algeria, Jordan and Morocco, although the remainder of 2015 was not the right time for deals, in part due to slower economic growth in the United Arab Emirates.

ADIB has operations in Egypt, Iraq, Qatar and Britain.