Union National Bank squeezed more income out of its borrowers despite an overall drop in lending, the bank's financial statements for the first quarter show.
The last of the UAE's big banks to report earnings, UNB posted a 20.3 per cent rise in net profits to Dh456 million.
Income from loans and Islamic financing rose 11.5 per cent to Dh532.2m, even though net loans and advances fell 0.4 per cent to Dh56.2 billion during the first three months of the year.
Fee income, which will be limited in the coming months as a result of regulations from the Central Bank, also rose 8.5 per cent to Dh140m.
"The uncertain economic environment globally continues to impact consumer and business confidence with the demand for credit remaining muted," the bank said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
Though impairment losses rose 25.7 per cent to Dh123.5m, recoveries of Dh53.7m which had previously been written off kept total impairments 24 per cent lower than last year at Dh69.8m.
Customers' deposits rose 2.8 per cent to Dh59.5bn.
