First Gulf Bank

First Gulf Bank (FGB) (ADX:FGB) is a publicly owned bank headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and owned by several sons of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. It was established in 1979 in Ajman and provides financial services across the UAE, with a wide distribution network of branches in different business & industrial areas such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, and Al Ain and is currently one of the fastest growing banks in the region. Within the UAE, it is also often known by its Arabic name Bank Al Khaleej Al Awal.

The bank offers a variety of financial services in corporate banking, treasury & investments, merchant banking and retail banking services. The bank focuses on providing financial services and solutions to different target groups in the market including private & public institutions, retail customers as well as high net worth individuals and investors in the country and the region as a whole.

After a rocky start, FGB was rescued by prominent Abu Dhabi-based investors in 1998 and then radically overhauled its senior management team in 2000. Many of today’s top management team, such as the CEO and the managing director, are from Citibank.

Fastest-growing bank in the Middle East

Managing director, Abdulhamid Saeed, attributes the bank’s “tremendous growth” in part to the UAE’s benign economic environment and consequent explosive demand for credit. The bank has also won the Dubai Quality Award in the Emirate of Dubai as well as the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. After raising its share capital in 2004 by issuing convertible bonds to four strategic partners to raise about AED 1 billion, FGB will double its equity capital in 2005 with a rights issue for existing shareholders. Banks in the United Arab Emirates benefited greatly from the oil price increases in 2005. FGB's profit growth rate is currently the highest among banks in the country. FGB recently come up with a 500 million Dirham rights issue for its shareholders and its 2005 profit for the first 9 months of the year has shot up to an astounding 750 million Dirhams. The bank recently declared a stock split for greater liquidity, a greater volume of trades and more access to some smaller investors.

Overseas expansion

First Gulf Bank recently launched an Islamic banking window to service the growing market for Islamic banking customers. The bank's current CEO has also voiced ambitions to expand the banks' operations into other GCC countries and push into Asia as well. In the summer of 2007, FGB opened a rep. office in Singapore to take advantage of the growing Asian market.

Key people

• HH Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan — Chairman
• HH Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan — Vice-Chairman
• Abdulhamid M. Saeed — Managing Director
• Andre Sayegh — Chief Executive Officer

External links

• First Gulf Bank