First Abu Dhabi Bank
The UAE’s largest bank likes to sell itself as one of the world’s safest and most influential institutions. Over the last 12 months, First Abu Dhabi Bank proved this marketing campaign right by almost every metric that investors apply.
For example, in the unusual year that was 2020, FAB managed to maintain dividend payouts despite a regional surge in impairment losses. It pulled off that feat by retaining strong buffers to protect depositors against the shocks of last year.
FAB wins our awards for best domestic bank and for best corporate and investment bank because of its continued growth and unfettered regional ambitions. It’s sometimes easy to forget how far the bank has come in its brief existence. Formed when First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi merged four years ago, FAB has never looked back.
FAB did many things well between 2020 and 2021, but its role as a financing power at home and regionally really stood out.
It’s the only Middle East bank with 20 full-time, dedicated experts based in the UAE, the US and Asia, covering specific asset classes from syndicated finance and leveraged and structured finance, to real estate finance and asset and project finance.
FAB’s