UAE grants corporate bank licences

BANK LICENCES: UAE central bank grants corporate licences to three foreign banks, enabling them to provide loans. (Getty Images)

The UAE central bank said on Monday it has granted wholesale banking licences to three foreign banks, including Deutsche Bank, that would enable them to take deposits and provide loans to institutions.

Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China have also been granted wholesale licences, the central bank governor said.

Wholesale banking licences permit lenders to conduct corporate business, but not retail banking, in the second-largest Arab economy.

"The banks have been granted wholesale banking licences to take deposits from institutions but not from individuals," Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi told a news conference.

"They can sanction loans to various types of institutions, government and quasi-government, can open bank accounts with the Central Bank and undertake electronic transfers in the UAE."

Deutsche Bank, already present in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), plans to start onshore banking operations in Abu Dhabi shortly, said Henry Azzam, CEO, Middle East & North Africa.

"We will open a branch in Abu Dhabi as soon as possible and undertake all services -- deposits, loans, trade finance, managing cash, investment banking and others," he said.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi also plans to open a branch in Abu Dhabi and will cash in on the growing trade between the UAE and Japan, said Norihiko Kato, Regional Head for the Middle East.

"The current economic turmoil has slowed activity but we see long-term steady growth in the UAE," he said. (Reuters)

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