Union National Bank, 50 percent owned by the Abu Dhabi government, posted a 20 percent rise in first-quarter net profit on Monday, beating analysts' forecasts.

The fifth largest lender on the Abu Dhabi exchange by assets reported a net profit attributable to equity holders of 610.8 million dirhams ($166.29 million) in the three months to March 31, up from 509.1 million dirhams a year earlier, a bourse filing said.

Five analysts polled by Reuters forecast an average profit of 547.4 million dirhams

UNB had loans and advances worth 66.94 billion dirhams at March-end, up from 64.07 billion dirhams a year ago.

Customer deposits were 69.68 billion dirhams as of March 31. This compares with 67.44 billion dirhams 12 months earlier. ($1 = 3.6730 UAE dirhams) (Reporting by Matt Smith, editing by Olzhas Auyezov)

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