NBAD to hire 400 employees worldwide

NBAD CEO assures banks close to resolving liability issues regarding credit bureau

25/11/2014 05:27 AST

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) is set to hire 400 people in its wholesale division across the world in the next few years — 10 per cent of whom are going to be Emiratis, the bank announced on Monday.

Alex Thursby, chief executive officer of NBAD, said the employees will be hired in places such as Hong Kong, possibly Shanghai later, within the Gulf region, and in the UK, and Europe in the future.

“We are focusing more on full employment for two or three years. We believe experience in the field develops people quicker, and with a much broader skills set, and allows them to develop in a much more international aspect of our business. Many of our customers also want us to bank them offshore as well as onshore,” Thursby said at a press conference held on Monday.

He added that the long-term objective was to place people in private banking across the west-east corridor.

During the conference, spokespeople from the bank also said that 118 Emiratis were recruited to serve clients in UAE branches.

The employees are fresh in the labour market or have three years of non-banking experience, and bring up the emiratisation ratio across NBAD from 33 per cent to 35 per cent, and from 37 per cent to 41 per cent in Retail and Commercial Banking.

Asked about NBAD’s participation with the UAE credit bureau, Thursby said that banks are close to resolving issues regarding liability over information.

“We’re very excited about the credit bureau, and we’ve started passing information over. As I’ve said publicly before, I think it is critical for the future success of the banking industry. There are some commercial things that I am absolutely sure will be sorted between the banking industry and the credit bureau, and I think it’s very close.”

He added that the establishment of the bureau is “the best thing that could happen to customers with good rating.”

Last month, NBAD announced a 32 per cent increase in its third-quarter net profits, which reached Dh1.37 billion. While Thursby did not disclose targets for the fourth quarter, he said that business momentum was positive.

“I think next year there will be continuing margin compression on the industry as a whole, and that will mean that people will have to find ways of making good growth. I think in low interest rate environments, you have to build a fee income part of business; asset management, foreign exchange, [and] transactional banking are all part of that strategy.

I think we’ll deliver a good result, and we’re pleased with progress,” the CEO said.

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