First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) celebrated today the one year anniversary of the merger that created the UAE's largest bank and one of the world's largest and safest financial institutions.
FAB began operations on April 2, 2017, when Group Chief Executive Officer Abdulhamid Saeed rang the bell to begin share trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), officially completing the legal merger of First Gulf Bank (FGB) and National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD). The opening share price on that day was AED10.25, compared with AED 11.70 a year later, underlining the success of FAB’s first year of operations.
Abdulhamid Saeed said: “Today marks a year since the moment we rang the bell to begin trading in FAB shares and this triggered the start of a remarkable and exciting journey for the bank, and the UAE. Since then, the team has worked tirelessly and collaboratively to fulfil the potential offered by two of the UAE’s most prominent financial institutions by combining the strength, expertise and global connectivity of both banks to support our customers, shareholders and employees to Grow Stronger. In a short period of time we have successfully completed many of our key integration milestones, reinforced the financial position of the new combined bank and realised cost synergies totaling approximately AED500 million. Most importantly, we thank our customers, shareholders, board members and employees, in addition to regulators, for embracing the FAB brand and look forward to rewarding them in the future as we begin to unleash the full operational power of FAB.”
Among FAB’s key achievements in its first year of operations were the completion of its new operating model, the rationalisation of its network, the channel rebrand across customer and digital touch-points, and the harmonisation of the group’s policies and risk framework.
The bank is also delivering on its promise to put customers first through an expanded range of products, services and solutions, including expanding its presence in the region to Saudi Arabia after recently announcing approvals from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority and Capital Markets Authority.
FAB’s resilient financial results in its first year of operations further strengthens the strategic rationale for the merger with a strong, liquid and well capitalised balance sheet. FAB is well positioned to continue to grow stronger.
