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Middle EastMarch 1 2016

UAE Banks Federation chief looks to mobile payments, SMEs and Islamic finance

The United Arab Emirates Banks Federation is embarking on a range of measures to tackle the country’s slowing economy, including improving mobile banking payment services, bolstering the assistance provided to SMEs, and developing a more consistent approach to applying sharia law to finance. Its chairman, Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, speaks to James King.
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While the United Arab Emirates’ economy may be enduring a period of slower growth, the country’s banking sector is well positioned to weather the change. With a Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio of 16.6% and a liquid assets ratio of 17.4%, according to data from the country’s central bank, the sector as a whole is in good shape.

As such, most lenders are set to maintain a steady, if slower growth trajectory for the coming year. Yet, challenges do remain and the fall in the price of oil has meant a significant drawdown of government and public sector deposits from many lenders. This has fed into a wider liquidity challenge for the sector, leading to an increase in local interest rates in recent months.

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