FGB, one of the leading banks in the UAE, released its Q1’2014 figures today. The bank continues to maintain its strong position in the UAE’s banking sector and recorded a Net Profit of AED 1,330 million in the first quarter of 2014, constituting a 27% increase compared to the same period in 2013.

Abdulhamid Saeed, FGB Managing Director and Board Member, said: “FGB has maintained its robust financial performance in 2014 by further capitalising on its solid operational, strategic and financial achievements during 2013. During the first quarter of the year, the bank continued to look towards further expanding its local and international businesses and FGB’s focus on diversifying sources of revenue continued to generate positive results. The total Q1’2014 revenue generated by the group increased by 20% compared to the same period of last year, which is a great achievement”

Commenting on the bank’s performance during the first quarter of this year, André Sayegh, CEO of FGB, said: “FGB is off to a positive start in 2014. Q1 financial results   reconfirmed FGB’s ability to continuously generate higher and diversified streams of revenues year on year by allocating assets in an optimal manner. Non Interest revenues generated by our three pillar businesses, namely the Wholesale Group, Consumer Group as well as our Treasury and Global Markets Group, showed significant growth. FGB’s assets were well positioned to benefit from the continuous economic improvement in the UAE and elsewhere, which reflected positively on our profits.”

During Q1 2014, FGB issued its first Australian Dollar Bond as part of its strategy to diversify funding sources. The Bank successfully closed the 5-year AUD 250 million (USD 228 million) ‘Kangaroo’ bond, which received widespread interest from investors on a global level. The transaction was priced on March 25th 2014 at 155 basis points (bps) above interpolated midswaps and the bonds are set to mature on April 1, 2019.

FGB’s consistent strong performance was recognised by international rating agencies, where RAM Ratings provided the bank with an AAA grade, and FGB’s Long Term Rating was affirmed at A+ by Fitch.

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