Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank concludes its acquisition of royal bank of scotland’s retail banking business in the UAE

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank concludes its acquisition of royal bank of scotland’s retail banking business in the UAE

Meticulous planning ensures smooth cut-over of the retail and SME banking business of RBS to ADCB.

October 22, 2010 3:51 by Rasha Reslan

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (“ADCB”), today announced the legal transfer of the retail banking and SME business of RBS in the UAE to ADCB, following a smooth cut-over of the acquired business in the early hours of Friday, October 1, 2010. The agreement was signed by ADCB and RBS on the 16th June 2010 and the the Central Bank approval for the same was received about a month back. Meticulous planning and effective implementation enabled ADCB to complete several tasks that required to be completed prior to the legal cut-over in a record 100 days and the transition was seamless.

Arup Mukhopadhyay, Head of Consumer Banking at ADCB, commented: “I am very pleased to say that due to the diligence and commitment of the team, the transition of RBS customers over to ADCB has been a seamless one, with absolutely no negative impact to customer service. The re-branding and integration efforts are in full swing and we remain confident that we will complete the entire process smoothly and as planned.

“RBS’s retail business in the UAE is an ideal strategic fit for the consumer banking business of ADCB, and adds significantly to the two strategic growth engines of ADCB’s consumer banking franchise – credit cards and wealth management. The successfull completion of this acquisition has resulted in a perfect platform for building a consumer banking powerhouse in the UAE.”

It is the first acquisition of an international bank’s retail banking franchise by a local bank in the UAE, adding significant scale and momentum to ADCB through its strategically important consumer banking business. The acquisition doubles ADCB’s credit card business significantly enhancing its market share, as well as adding over 250,000 new retail customers to the Bank.

Following the completion of the acquisition, ADCB has become one of the top three credit card players in the country, while also having created one of the largest mass affluent businesses in the UAE. The Bank remains positive about the long term growth potential of the UAE and believes that this completed acquisition offers a solid platform for value creation in the future.

Ala’a Eraiqat, Chief Executive Officer of ADCB, said: “This is a historic milestone for the UAE banking industry and for ADCB. I am extremely proud of the dedication and enthusiasm shown by the team to enable this to happen efficiently and in record time. The acquisition was undertaken in line with our key strategic objectives of strengthening our core business and market position in the UAE and I am confident it will deliver long-term value to all ADCB stakeholders.”

On March 31st, 2010, ADCB had 49 branches, 175 ATMs and over 340,000 retail customers. The acquisition has further enhanced ADCB’s franchise by leveraging RBS’s established local retail banking presence and adding over 250,000 customers, 51 ATMs, three new branches and two customer service centres along with a world class operations processing and a modern call centre facility based in Dubai. The combined business benefits from delivering economies of scale, a stronger operating platform and a wider distribution network to the Bank’s customers.

ADCB, with a total capital ratio of 17.5% as of 31st March 2010, financed the acquisition from internal cash resources. The total cash consideration was equal to the net asset value of the UAE RBS retail banking business at completion, plus $46 million. On 31 December, 2009, the net assets of the business were approximately $54 million. For ADCB, this amounted to approximately 1.59 multiples of book value.