Dubai's Noor Islamic Bank Denies Merger Plans

Dubai’s Noor Islamic Bank Denies Merger Plans

Dubai's Noor Islamic Bank has no plans to merge with any other financial institution, the chairman of the emirate's Supreme Fiscal Committee said on Saturday.

May 28, 2011 12:01 by p.deleon

Dubai’s Noor Islamic Bank has no plans to merge with any other financial institution, the chairman of the emirate’s Supreme Fiscal Committee said on Saturday.

“There were never any plans to merge Noor Islamic Bank with, or have it absorbed by, any other financial institution. These were nothing but unfounded market rumours,” Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, who is also chairman of Noor Islamic Bank, said in a statement.

Noor Islamic Bank had been touted as a possible candidate to absorb troubled Islamic lender Dubai Bank, which was recently taken over by the Gulf emirate’s government.

Nour’s chief executive Hussain al-Qemzi had previously denied that the lender was considering a merger but market speculation persisted after the Dubai government said it would consider merging Dubai Bank with another state-owned financial institution.

Dubai already has stakes in six commercial banks in the UAE, including Emirates NBD , Dubai’s largest by market capitalisation, Dubai Islamic Bank and Noor Islamic Bank.

The Supreme Fiscal Committee oversees Dubai’s fiscal policies. (Reporting by Shaheen Pasha; editing by Firouz Sedarat)