U.A.E. Bank Margins Reduced as Lending Slows: Arab Credit - Bloomberg

United Arab Emirates’ banks, struggling with bad loans after Dubai teetered on the brink of default in 2009, are seeing profit margins shrink as lending slows and falling interest rates curb gains on investments.
The net interest margin, the difference between what banks earn from loans and what they pay on liabilities such as customer deposits, has dropped for the top five U.A.E. lenders this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The measure at Emirates NBD PJSC (EMIRATES), the U.A.E.’s biggest bank by assets, slipped to 2.35 percent in the third quarter, from 2.85 percent at the end of the year. Second-ranked National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC posted a decline to 2.16 percent, from 2.4 percent.

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