First Abu Dhabi to carve out payments business
03 November, 2020
First Abu Dhabi Bank, the UAE's major lender, is to carve out its payments business right into a fully-owned subsidiary.
The move is made to "unlock growth potential from new geographies and customer segments" and can help enhance FAB's position in the payments space, the lender said in a statement on Monday.
“A completely owned subsidiary will start the entire potential of FAB’s payment business and commercialise our processing offering at scale, across a broad selection of customers and partners," the bank's chief executive, Andre Sayegh, said.
"In addition to our involvement in the new digital bank being created by ADQ, this move represents another significant long-term strategic chance of FAB, forming a key part of our growth and transformation agenda," he added.
FAB last week reported a 19 % year-on-year decline in third quarter net profit to Dh2.5 billion as operating income fell 15 per cent to Dh4.3bn.
The bank isn't the first UAE lender to split up payment processing. Network International started as part of Emirates NBD before a partial sale to private equity groups and an eventual initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange last year, raising £1.1bn through a deal in which Mastercard became its cornerstone investor.
FAB said its new payments subsidiary is on the right track to go live early next year, and that further updates will be provided to the marketplace "over the coming months".
Source: www.thenationalnews.com