Lowest annual growth in 6 years
AED 16.9 billion net fee and commission income for 17 national banks
Emirates NBD ranked first in terms of fees and commissions. Archival
Ahmed Youssef: "Banks had no choice but to reduce or reduce fees and commissions to balance the impact of raising interest rates."
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17 national banks collected net income from fees and commissions of AED 16.9 billion last year compared to AED 16 billion at the end of 2021, a year-on-year growth of 5.4%. This is the lowest annual growth rate of fees and commissions charged by banks in nearly six years, according to a monitoring conducted by Emirates Today, based on the announced financial statements of 17 banks, out of 18 listed on the capital markets, as it was not possible to obtain detailed data for the remaining bank until the date of publication.
Fourteen of the monitored banks separated net income from fees and commissions, while three banks added the word "other income" or the word "non-interest" to the proceeds of fees and commissions, namely (Sharjah, Ajman Bank and Emirates Investment).
Emirates NBD ranked first in terms of fees and commissions (AED 2 billion), followed by First Abu Dhabi Bank (AED 8.2 billion) and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) third (AED 1.<> billion).
Ajman Bank came in first place with a growth of 74.5%, followed by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank with 42.8%, and Emirates Islamic Bank with 23%.
According to the monitoring, net fees and commissions declined in six banks, rose in 10 banks and remained unchanged in one bank.
Since 2011, the Central Bank has set a system of fees and commissions imposed on individual services and transactions, setting a value and setting a ceiling for each service or fee, but on the other hand, banks determine the fees imposed on corporate transactions and compete with each other in accordance with their internal policy and risk management requirements.
The banking expert, Ahmed Youssef, told «Emirates Today», that «last year witnessed a raise in interest, beyond the control of all banks, because of the raising of the main interest by the Central Bank, in light of the link to the dirham to the dollar, and as a result of the Federal Reserve of measures to raise interest», explaining that «banks did not have but to reduce or reduce the rates of fees and commissions, which they charge from customers, to balance the impact of raising interest, and to maintain their customers and encourage new ones to join it."
Youssef added: "Last year, it witnessed the largest number of consecutive rate hikes and therefore banks cannot continue at the same fee levels as well, otherwise this constituted a great burden on the customer and negatively affected various financing requests, so it is natural that a kind of balance occurs between raising interest and maintaining reasonable levels of income margin from fees."