UAE Central Bank to review retail lending rules

The United Arab Emirates central bank plans to review its retail lending rules at the beginning of next year, an official from the central bank's supervision department was quoted as saying by a daily paper on Sunday.

"The central bank is still receiving feedback from banks and customers," Saleh Al Tenaiji, senior manager at the central bank's supervision and examination department was quoted as saying by 'The National' newspaper.

"We will collect all of this information until it gets (to) such a time to study it and submit it to the board of directors to see if we need to amend the regulations," he said.

Earlier this year, the regulator capped the amount commercial banks can lend to individuals at 20 times their salary and set the period for loan repayment at 48 months to prevent excesses seen during the oil boom years of 2007-2008. 

The global financial crisis and Dubai's debt woes have slowed lending growth in the OPEC member. Private sector credit growth was flat year-on-year in May compared with rates of over 50 per cent in 2008.   
 

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