Improvement in asset quality helps boost Union National Bank net profit

A reduction in impairments, which more than halved year-on-year to 46 million dirhams in the second quarter, supported the profit gain.

Union National Bank edged ahead of analysts’ forecasts as it posted a 5.6 per cent increase in second-quarter net profit on Sunday due to lower impairments.

The fifth-largest lender on the Abu Dhabi exchange by market value reported a net profit of Dh515.6 million for the second quarter, up from Dh488.3m in the same three-month period last year, a bourse filing said.

Five analysts polled by Reuters forecast an average profit of Dh499.6m for the quarter.

A reduction in impairments, which more than halved year-on-year to Dh46m in the second quarter, supported the profit gain.

“The asset quality continues to improve with the non-performing loans reducing both on an absolute basis also relative to the gross loans,” Mohammad Nasr Abdeen, chief executive of UNB, said in the statement.

The fall helped to offset a 3.3 per cent drop in UNB’s net interest income, which dipped to Dh654.9m as a slight gain in loan growth was offset by a decline in the margin it earned on its lending.

Loans and advances increased 3 per cent year-on-year to stand at Dh62 billion on June 30 while deposits jumped 16 percent over the same timeframe to Dh67bn.

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