First #AbuDhabi Bank open to acquisitions to spur growth, CEO says

First Abu Dhabi Bank open to acquisitions to spur growth, CEO says

FAB is looking to organically grow its core businesses, says Hana Al Rostamani, chief executive
of First Abu Dhabi Bank. Victor Besa / The National

First Abu Dhabi Bank is open to acquisition opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa and in markets beyond as long as the deals make commercial sense and create value for the UAE’s biggest lender by assets, its chief executive said.

FAB, as the Abu Dhabi-listed lender is known, is also open to acquiring international banks if an opportunity presents itself, as it continues to expand its footprint in markets across continents, Hana Al Rostamani told The National.

“If it adds value, certainly we will look into it,” she said of a potential acquisition of an international lender. She, however, declined to say if FAB is actively pursuing a deal at the moment.

The lender only looks at opportunities that allow it to “quickly build our portfolio ... enter a new market or enhance our platform and that is something we continuously opportunistically look into”, she said.

“So essentially, when we look at any acquisition, we broadly look at these three areas and where does [the deal] fit within those three spectrums. That really adds up [to] our overall strategy.”