Hong Kong, Singapore among eight NBAD banking hubs

Part of NBAD’s plans for domestic and international expansion.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s largest bank by assets, plans to establish eight banking hubs in Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Lagos, Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Paris and Washington DC. Group Chief Executive Officer Alex Thursby said the bank is spearheading strategies built around three geographical pillars. In the home market, it intends to build the largest, safest and best performing bank in the UAE and over time in the Gulf Cooperation Council area.

NBAD intends to deepen its wholesale network across the West-East Corridor and integrate the bank’s European and North American platforms into this network. It will also build five international bank franchises in the largest and fastest growing economies in the West-East Corridor.

Thursby said NBAD is next going to be applying for a license in Singapore. The corridor includes increasingly important economies in Middle East and North Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and greater China.