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Dubai Bank earns H1 net of Dh46.4m

DUBAI — Dubai Bank announced a net profit of Dh 46.4 million for the first half of 2005, a 15 fold increase over the same period in 2004.

The bank reported a growth of 12 per cent in its total assets, reaching Dh 2.7 billion as at end of June 2005 compared to Dh 2.4 billion at end of year 2004, with deposits rising to Dh 1.9 million and Loans and Advances reaching Dh 1.7 billion. Operating income of the Bank during the first half of 2005 was Dh 115 million, including non-interest income of Dh 64 million, an increase of 237 per cent year-on-year.

Ziad Makkawi, Dubai Bank CEO, said: "Dubai Bank has witnessed remarkable growth over the last year. This is in line with our ongoing drive for expansion and continuing to ensure our product offering and service delivery remains well in advance of our competitors.

During 2005, we continued to strengthen our commercial businesses, including Corporate and Institutional Banking, Treasury and Retail Banking, through delivering innovative value rich products and superior benefits to market.

The Bank opened its first Branch in Sharjah during 2005 and plans to increase its branch network in Dubai and Abu Dhabi during the second half of the year."

"A substantial part of the increase this year has come from our capital markets area which participated in the booming UAE economy. As an institution we are pursuing pockets of value where we can take advantage and we see many more opportunities especially in the area of Islamic banking," he added.

Ziad Makkawi commented that Dubai Bank launched its investment banking division earlier this year, offering corporate finance and asset management services in order to further widen the scope and scale of its operations and increase the bank's momentum for the second half of the year, both within the region and internationally.