NBAD reorganisation begins; lays off 100 employees

One the world’s 50 safest banks, NBAD has devised its growth strategy around three geographical pillars led by its home market where it wants to build the largest, safest and best performing bank in the UAE and overtime in the GCC.

By Haseeb Haider

Published: Thu 5 Dec 2013, 10:47 AM

Last updated: Fri 3 Apr 2015, 5:34 AM

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi, or NBAD, has laid off up to 100 employees during this year in line with its reorganisation strategy, according to banking sources.

Junior to mid-cadre executives are among the majority of those who have lost jobs as the UAE’s second biggest bank by assets has embarked on a new strategy to build on its existing strengths in order to be recognised as the world’s best Arab bank.

“As a result, we are expanding some areas within the bank while reducing others and eliminating duplication of roles,” a spokesman for the Abu Dhabi-based lender told Khaleej Times.

“The reorganisation of our resources, which has already begun, will be substantially completed over the next 12-18 months,” he said. “We will make every effort to reassign talented individuals to other roles within the bank,” the spokesman said.

NBAD employs nearly 6,500 people in 18 countries.

The new chief executive officer Alex Thursby, who joined the bank in July this year, has introduced a new, more simplified organisational structure by merging its six segments into three departments — Global Wholesale Banking, Retail and Commercial, and Global Wealth.

One the world’s 50 safest banks, NBAD has devised its growth strategy around three geographical pillars led by its home market where it wants to build the largest, safest and best performing bank in the UAE and overtime in the GCC.

The lender plans to establish eight banking hubs in Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Lagos, Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Paris, and Washington DC, as part of its expansion drive.

The third pillar of growth would be the wholesale segment which will deepen its network across the West-East corridor and integrate the bank’s European and North American platforms into this network.

Building five international bank franchises in the largest and fastest growing economies in the West-East corridor is also part of the strategy.

The ‘corridor’ includes increasingly important economies in the Mena region, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and greater China, as this region represents vast potentials with unlimited resources, growing economic activities, and an emerging middle class.

NBAD’s Wholesale Banking has identified the five sectors that align to the bank’s strategy as financial institutions, energy, aviation and transportation, real estate and family conglomerates, and retailers.

NBAD’s strategy for 2018 will create new opportunities to meet demands of its customers while targeting a double-digit increase in headcount in 2014.

haseeb@khaleejtimes.com