Emirates NBD’s Q3 Profits Up a Strong 61% on Lower Provisions 

UAE’s largest lender Emirates NBD reported a solid 61% and 29% growth in net profits to AED 2.5bn and AED 7.3bn for Q3 and 9M2021 respectively. The strong earnings were boosted by lower provisions, down 49% and 42% to AED 1.1bn and AED 3.7bn respectively. Cost of risk for 9M2021 came in 70bp lower at 106bp “at the low-end of the pre-pandemic range despite the Group maintaining the highest coverage level amongst its peers,” the bank said in its press release. On the balance sheet front, net loans for Q3 grew by AED ~100mn as record demand for retail financing was offset by a decline in corporate lending due to repayments and the FX translation impact from DenizBank. Liquidity remains strong with a liquidity coverage ratio of 157.2% and advances to deposits at 94%. Its NPL ratio for Q3 improved by 0.1% to 6.2%. The bank’s CET ratio improved by 100bp YoY to 16.1%.