UAE banks' 2021 profit rises YOY; Abraaj founder Arif Naqvi fined $135.6M

* United Arab Emirates-based Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, First Abu Dhabi Bank PJSC and Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC all reported a year-over-year rise in net profit for 2021 despite contending with historically low interest rates.

FAB's 2021 net profit attributable to parent returned to pre-pandemic levels and stood at 12.53 billion dirhams, compared to 10.56 billion dirhams in 2020. Emirates NBD's and Dubai Islamic Bank's net profit remained below pre-pandemic levels, amounting to 9.31 billion dirhams and 4.39 billion dirhams, respectively, versus 6.96 billion dirhams and 3.29 billion dirhams in the previous year.

Emirates NBD attributed the 34% rise to its business model and a record increase in retail financing demand, while FAB said its positive results stemmed from strong trading performance and growth in its fee-generating business. Meanwhile, Dubai Islamic Bank attributed its 39% rise profit increase to strong management cost controls and lower impairment charges.

All three banks said the low interest rate environment has had a negative effect on their business, but that results had been buoyed by an economic recovery in the UAE.

Net interest income for 2021 stood at 16.92 billion dirhams for Emirates NBD, 11.66 billion dirhams for FAB and 6.64 billion dirhams for Dubai Islamic Bank. The three lenders' net fee and commissions income for the year stood at 3.84 billion dirhams, 3.04 billion dirhams and 1.28 billion dirhams, respectively.

Other news

* The Dubai Financial Services Authority, or DFSA, imposed a $135.6 million fine on Arif Naqvi, the founder of Abraaj Group, over his role in the private equity firm's collapse in 2019, Bloomberg News reported. The DFSA also fined former Abraaj COO Waqar Siddique $1.15 million. The pair have disputed the regulator's findings and asked the Financial Markets Tribunal to review the decisions.

* U.S. bank Citigroup Inc. is hiring more staff in the Gulf as it expects another record year for IPOs in the region in 2022, Miguel Azevedo, investment banking head for the Middle East and North Africa, told Bloomberg TV.

* Cryptocurrency exchange Binance Holdings Limited restricted the personal accounts of 281 Nigeria-based clients to meet international regulations against money laundering, Reuters reported. CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a letter to clients that 79 cases had been resolved and that non-law enforcement-related cases will be resolved within two weeks.

* The Saudi National Bank recommended a dividend distribution of 4.03 billion Saudi Arabian riyals, equivalent to 90 halalas per share after zakat, for the second half of 2021.

* Masraf Al Rayan QPSC's full-year 2021 net profit attributable to equity holders of the bank fell to 1.72 billion Qatari riyals from 2.18 billion riyals in the year-ago period as it recorded higher net impairment losses.

* UAE-based United Arab Bank P.JSC named Abdul Haleem Sheikh CFO.

* S&P Global Ratings downgraded Burkina Faso's long- and short-term foreign- and local-currency sovereign credit ratings to CCC+/C from B/B and placed all ratings on CreditWatch with developing implications, citing heightened political, economic and financial risks following the recent military coup.

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