The Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) has completed its merger with Union National Bank (UNB) and the combined company has acquired Al Hilal Bank to create the third largest financial institution in the UAE.
Image: UNB and Al Hilal complete merger with ADCB. Photo: courtesy of Bjoertvedt/Wikimedia Commons.
The enlarged ADCB Group will provide services to more than a million customers. It will hold AED423bn ($115.16bn) in assets and will be among the largest retail lenders in the country with a market share of 21% of retail loans as of 31 December 2018.
The Government of Abu Dhabi owns 60.2% stake in the enlarged banking group through the Abu Dhabi Investment Council.
Prior to the merger, ADCB operated 47 branches and 358 ATMs in the UAE along with two branches in India and one branch in Jersey, as listed on its website. The full-service commercial bank provides retail banking, wealth management, private banking, Islamic products, corporate banking, commercial banking, and other services.
UNB, which was established as a public joint stock company in 1982, has been engaged in providing banking and financial services to individual, corporate and SME customers in the UAE. The bank also has branches in Qatar and Kuwait along with presence in Egypt and China.
Following the merger with ADCB, the bank has been dissolved as a legal entity while its shares have been delisted.
Al Hilal Bank, which was founded by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council in 2008, will operate as a separate Islamic banking entity under its own brand within the enlarged banking group. The Islamic bank will be engaged in providing Shari’ah-compliant retail banking services through traditional and digital platforms.
The integration of the three banks’ operations and customer experience will be fast tracked in a phased manner from the second half of 2019.
ADCB Group CEO and board member Ala’a Eraiqat said: “This transaction is an important step in the transformation of the UAE’s economy. Each of these three banks has a proud history and has performed an important role in Abu Dhabi’s development.
“By bringing them together with a strong vision, a clear direction and great ambition, the new ADCB Group is well-placed to make an even greater contribution to the economic development of our nation.
“In today’s financial industry, scale is vital for us to operate successfully and achieve our goal of sustainable, long-term growth. This merger creates a resilient banking group with the capacity to invest in our mission to provide excellent service for our customers in our core market, the UAE.”