ADF's low interest rates, big plans

Any sluggishness as a result of the global financial crisis is clearly being dusted off when it comes to the Abu Dhabi property market.

Quietly confident and sensibly bullish was the sentiment that came through an exclusive interview Emirates Business had with Philip Ward, CEO of Abu Dhabi Finance. Ward has not only charted a course for ADF to become the UAE's biggest mortgage lender, but plans to do it by offering interest rates that he says, are towards the lower side of the UAE average. "We have got an interest rate range between 8.5 and nine per cent. My marketing intelligence tells me that industry average at the moment in the UAE is in the range between 8.75 and 9.5 per cent. So we are towards the bottom of that range," he said.

Is the man who heads this five-way joint venture between Mubadala, Aldar, Sorouh, Tourism Development and Investment Company and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, with an initial capital of Dh500 million, being overly optimistic?

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