Mortgage giants slim down - The National Newspaper

Amlak and Tamweel, the country’s two largest mortgage providers, are beginning to scale back.

Mortgage brokers and industry insiders say the companies, which have been in stalled merger talks since the end of 2008, have begun to pare down their loan portfolios as they ponder their return to financial health.

While neither of the publicly listed companies has released quarterly financial information this year, both saw the value of mortgages decline last year. Amlak had Dh10.06 billion (US$2.73bn) of loans and mortgages on its books at the end of 2008, but had only Dh9.49bn by the middle of last year, a drop of Dh568 million.