Over a third of UAE bank employees are Emiratis

The Emirates Banks Association recently held its annual general meeting (AGM) in the headquarters of the Commercial Bank of Dubai and approved the annual report for 2011.

The report showcased the resilience of the UAE Banking sector and its capability to withstand the global financial crisis, reflecting the safety of the financial sector and its success in supporting the economy.

The report also mentioned a total of 12,799 UAE national employees, both men and women, working in the sector, which constitutes 35.06 per cent out of 36,501 employees.

During the meeting, a list of top 1000 global banks was disclosed, which included 15 UAE banks amongst 76 Arab banks.

The report included the total number of banks operating in the UAE as of December 2011 reaching to 51 banks (23 UAE National Banks, including 8 Islamic banks, 22 foreign banks, 6 GCC banks). The total number of bank branches in the UAE reported 1066, including exchange houses and units of electronic financial service units and 4172 ATMs across the country, within the UAESWIFT. 

The meeting was chaired by Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association, Khalfan Mohammed Al Roumi, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors and the members of the Board and representatives of banks, members of the EBA, the General Manager of the Association, Fathi Mahmoud Skaik.

The meeting commenced with a speech by Al Ghurair, who praised the cooperation and coordination between the Association and operating banks & financial institutions in the UAE, UAE Central Bank, Ministries and local departments.

Al Ghurair also highlighted the significant contribution of Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer, former Chairman of the Board of Directors and his participation in the membership of the board of directors since the founding of the Association.

Al Ghurair commended the UAE banking sector on overcoming various challenges and its commitment to implement the highest international standards. This includes the International and regional reports issued recently indicating healthy signs in the industry, most specifically the IMF and the World Bank and global rating agencies.

The meeting discussed the agenda of the AGM, which included approving discussions held in previous meetings as well as financial statements and auditors' report for 2011 as presented by the delegate, the budget of the Association for the year 2012, and the annual report for 2011, as well as the Action Plan for 2012.

Furthermore, the report also noted the continued assistance by the Association to extend all information and data related services, "Swift" and its developments in cooperation and coordination with various related parties. The number of SWIFT users in the UAE has increased to 114 including all banks operating in the country.

Statistics indicated that the UAE comes in the top position in the GCC in the messages sent and received via SWIFT. The UAE scored 46 per cent for outgoing messages and 54 per cent of received messages from the overall messages carried out in the GCC Region. 

On the other hand, the annual report included that the Union of Arab Banks honored Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, CEO of Mashreq and Chairman of Emirates Banks Association as the Arab Banker Personality for the year 2010-201 during the International Arab Banking Summit (IABS) 2011, held in Rome– Italy. The Union of Arab Banks is part of the Arab League and its membership includes more than 350 Arab banking institutions.

This is the third time a UAE personality is chosen for the prestigious award ‘Arab Banker Personality’. Previously it was extended to Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Ghurair in 2003 and Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer in 2006.

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