Abu Dhabi has increased the share capital of its wholly-owned Al Hilal Bank by Dh400 million, a timely boost for the Islamic lender, which is modernising its branch network and investing in technology. The increase in capital by the Abu Dhabi Investment Council was granted in June. Al Hilal’s share capital has risen to Dh3.5 billion from Dh3.1bn, as it pursues growth plans.
“While the increase will further strengthen the bank’s balance sheet and capital base, from a more long-term perspective, it allows us to meet the growing demand for Islamic finance by investing in areas with the greatest growth prospects,” said , Alex Coelho, the Al Hilal chief executive.
The bank, which completed the first decade of operations this year, has a well balanced portfolio, almost equally split between retail and corporate banking, Mr Coelho said. Improving asset quality, expanding its offerings and digitising services have been the big priorities for the Islamic lender.
“We as a bank are clearly focused on the quality of the assets,” Mr Coelho said. “We are not concerned with the general growth but we are concerned with qualitative growth, both in retail and corporate banking [businesses].”
Al Hilal has updated its Euro Medium Term Note programme for a possible bond issuance. However, Mr Coelho would not specify either the time or the size of possible transactions and whether Al Hilal has appointed financial advisers on the deal.
The lender issued a $100 million private placement sukuk last year, its third issuance under the $2.5bn EMTN programme, it said at the time. Bloomberg earlier this year reported that the bank has hired Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan and Nomura Holdings to manage the sale of another dollar-denominated sukuk transaction.
Source The National