UAE’s gross banking assets stand at Dhs3.172tr by end of January

The UAE gross bank assets, including bankers’ acceptances, rallied to Dhs3.172 trillion by the end of January 2021, figures by the Central Bank of the UAE have shown.

Gross credit in the banking system likewise grew from Dhs1.779 trillion by the end of December 2020 to Dhs1.779.2 trillion in January 2021, with total bank deposits going up to Dhs1.876.3 trillion driven by a rise in residents’ savings, from Dhs1.884.5 trillion in December.

In the meantime, the apex bank announced that the Money Supply aggregate M3 edged down to Dhs1.768.7 trillion at the end of January from Dhs1.769.3 in December 2020. In the meantime, Money Supply aggregate M1 increased 2.3 pct to Dhs613.6 billion as compared to December 2020 due to an Dhs1 billion increase in monetary deposits and cash in circulation outside banks. Money Supply aggregate M2 rose as well to Dhs1.489 trillion as compared to Dhs1.478.5 trillion during the reference period due to the increase in M1 and despite the drop in quasi-monetary deposits.

M1 means currency in circulation outside banks (currency Issued - cash at banks) plus monetary deposits; while M2 means M1 plus quasi-monetary deposits. M3 means M2 plus government deposits

Deposits by individuals continued to increase in UAE banks during the last quarter of 2020, hitting around Dhs13 billion despite economic challenges, statistics by the Central Bank of the UAE have showed.

This ratcheted the cumulative balance of deposits in UAE banks up to Dhs493.9 bn by the end of December from Dhs480.9 billion in September of the same year.

According to the apex bank’s statistics, individual deposits account for 26.2 percent of the total balance of this investment vehicle, including all its types and terms, which altogether stood at around Dhs1.884 trillion by the end of 2020.

Meanwhile,  the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Aurora50, a social enterprise focusing on achieving gender-balanced boardrooms in the UAE. The partnership will advance female representation on public and private sector boards consistent with international best practice through knowledge exchange and building a strong pipeline of female talent.

The MoU was signed by Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, co-founder of Aurora50 and  Abdulhamid M. Saeed Alahmadi, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE, in a virtual ceremony. The ceremony was also attended by Dr. Sabri Hamed Al Azazi, Chief Operating Officer of the CBUAE and Mrs. Diana Wilde, co-founder of Aurora50, along with other representatives from both organisations.

Commenting on the partnership,  Abdulhamid M. Saeed Alahmadi, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE said: “The UAE has made remarkable progress in the past decade to increase the participation of women in the public and private sectors, and advancing gender equality is part of the UAE’s 2021 National Agenda. As a regulatory authority for licensed financial institutions in the UAE, we are committed to supporting the national agenda through engaging with the nomination committees of the Boards of financial institutions to ensure a fair representation of women on their Boards, as required by the CBUAE Corporate Governance regulation.”

The partnership between the CBUAE and Aurora50 aims to enhance and accelerate gender diversity in boardrooms and increase female representation. It provides a platform for knowledge sharing through conferences, meetings, seminars and workshops, and supports development of skills.

“The work that we do at Aurora50 and our Pathway20 initiative aims to develop resilient and high-performing boards based on the foundations of competence, diversity and inclusion. The partnership with the CBUAE reinforces the link between the representation of women on boards and national economic development. This is a positive step in the right direction, and we hope it encourages other organisations to accelerate their efforts towards more female representation at the board-level,” commented Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, co-founder of Aurora50.

Aurora50 has created an ecosystem of alliances and partnerships which include Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (ESCA), ADNOC, Mubadala Investment Company, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Abu Dhabi Ports, Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA), Sandooq Al Watan, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), Dubai Financial Market (DFM), Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), Dubai Future Foundation, Egon Zehnder, Fidelio, Hawkamah, INSEAD, Nasdaq Dubai and LinkedIn.

Through its Pathway20 initiative, Aurora50 has been working with multiple stakeholders across the public and private sector to increase female representation on corporate boards and strengthen the talent pipeline of female directors.

Co-founded by Sheikha Shamma bint Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan and Diana Wilde in 2019, Aurora50 is a UAE-based social enterprise that is enabling groundbreaking solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

Aurora50 has a unique approach to solving these challenges, believing that the entire ecosystem must collaborate and co-create solutions to effect change.