UNB taps trade fund for $45m

Union National Bank obtains $45 million in financing from the Arab Trade Financing Programme, as it seeks to bolster its trade lending.

Union National Bank (UNB) has obtained a US$45 million (Dh165.2m) credit line from the Arab Trade Financing Programme (ATFP).

ATFP, based in Abu Dhabi, provides finance to fund greater levels of trade between Arab states tohelp to lift the competitiveness of producers and exporters.

Mohammed Abdeen, the chief executive of the Abu Dhabi-based UNB, said he hoped to reap the benefits from the programme's facilities and gain from increased trade between Arab nations.

The ATFP has been tapped by UNB several times since the fund's establishment in 1989, the result of a resolution by the Arab Monetary Fund.

The fund has provided 38 lines of credit to accredited agencies in the UAE since then, with funding totalling $927m.

UNB's shares were unchanged in trading yesterday at Dh3.11 each.

The bank reported net profits of Dh455.7m in the second quarter, an increase of 10 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

Companies have increasingly attempted to tap export credit agencies and other institutional sources of funding in an effort to counteract a withdrawal of bank lending lines in the region, mostly the result of European lenders withdrawing.