First Abu Dhabi Bank Completes One Year Of Operations

Abu Dhabi: First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), which was created through the merger of National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Frist Gulf Bank, completed its first year of operations with a new operating model and harmonisation of the group’s policies and risk framework, the bank said on Monday.

FAB began operations on April 2, 2017 with the Group Chief Executive Officer Abdul Hamid Saeed ringing the bell to begin share trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).

The opening share price on that day was Dh10.25, compared with Dh11.70 a year later.

“Today marks a year since the moment we rang the bell to begin trading in FAB shares and this triggered the start of a remarkable and exciting journey for the bank, and the UAE,” Abdul Hamid Saeed said in a statement.

“In a short period of time we have successfully completed many of our key integration milestones, reinforced the financial position of the new combined bank and realised cost synergies totaling approximately Dh500 million.”

Among FAB’s key achievements in its first year of operations were the completion of its new operating model, the rationalisation of its network, the channel rebrand across customer and digital touch-points, and the harmonisation of the group’s policies and risk framework.

The bank is also expanding into Saudi Arabia, after recently receiving approvals from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority and Capital Markets Authority.