The Board of Directors of UAE Banks Federation held its first meeting at the Mashreq Bank Headquarter in Dubai, Headed by H.E. AbdulAziz Abdulla Al Ghurair, Chairman of UAE Banks Federation; the Board members unveiled its annual report for 2012 and discussed the federation business plan for 2013 in addition to the major activities, topics and issues the Federation handled since last meeting.
H.E Al Ghurairwelcomed all Board members and the accession of Mr. Abdulla AbdulRaheem, Deputy Group Chief Executive, NBAD, toreplace H.E Abdullah Bin Mohammed Ghobash, who was recently appointed as Minister of State. H.E praised the continuous cooperation and coordination among Board members stressing on the Federation's leading role in serving the Society, Banking Sector and National Economy.
The Board approved the Federation Annual Report of 2012 and the minutes of the previous meeting held on November 8, 2012, and reviewed topics on theagenda, starting by approving all Financial Statements, Auditors' Report for 2012, estimated budget and auditors’ nomination for 2013.
During the meeting, BoDs approved the UAE Banks Federation Annual Report of 2012 which shows the major achievements and the significant role the Federation has played on different subjects such as "Mortgage Loans Cap", “Liquidity Regulation at Banks”, “Monitoring of Large Exposure Limits”, establishment of “Al Etihad Credit Bureau”, the initiative of proposing rules for“Appointment of Legal Banking Experts” and setting up “Specialized Commercial Courts”.
The annual report highlighted key economic and banking developments which shows a good performance and growth almost in all indicators, as reflected in banks achieving comfortable liquidity level, a strong capital base and a high capital adequacy ratio. UAE banks witnessed remarkable growth in total assets which increased by approximately 8% to AED 1791 billion in 2012, enabling the banking sector to remain the Arab largest in terms of assets, where as deposits increased from AED 1069.7 billion in 2011 to AED 1167.8 billion in 2012 combined with increase in capital and reserves from AED 258 billion in 2011 up to AED 276 billion by end of 2012. The report praised the success of UAE banking sector in surviving the Global Economic Crisis during the last five years starting from the Mortgage Crisis followed by the Global Financial Crisis and finally the Euro Zone Debt Crisis.
Furthermore, The BoDs reviewed the Federation Business Plan for 2013, which aims to boost cooperation, coordination and consultation with the Central Bank, Ministries and other Government Entitieson all issuesrelated to the banking sector, as well to promote Emiratisation in the banking sector and develop cooperation and harmony among the member banks to perform their role in the economic development, social responsibility and customers protection.
The meeting was concluded by calling for the Federation Annual General Assembly Meeting to be held later this month, and yielded a number of proposals and decisions that highlighted the distinctive and pioneering role of the federation in representing the member banks to promote and support the Banking Industry and the National Economy.