Commercial Bank of Dubai Buys UAE Loan-Book From RBS

By Nicolas Parasie

DUBAI--Commercial Bank of Dubai, a lender partly owned by the emirate's sovereign wealth fund, Wednesday said it purchased corporate loans worth 3 billion U.A.E. dirhams ($817 million) in the United Arab Emirates from the Royal Bank of Scotland as the U.K. lender continues to scale back its international business.

The loan portfolio consists mostly of large U.A.E. businesses that have "excellent" credit profiles, the Dubai bank said. It will finance the acquisition, the price of which wasn't disclosed, using its own funds.

For RBS, the sale of the loan-book comes at a time when the U.K. bank is cutting costs, closing down investment banking operations across the globe and retreating to its domestic market. RBS, which is 80% controlled by the U.K. government recently sold the international arm of its wealth business Coutts.

CBD, in which sovereign fund Investment Corporation of Dubai owns 20%, is a domestic lender in the emirate that primarily focuses on mid-market corporate clients.

Write to Nicolas Parasie at [e-mail]

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