Emirates NBD pre-tax profit rises 4% to AED 24.3bn on record income
Income rose 15 per cent to AED 42.2bn, but AED 2.1bn of impairments, mainly at DenizBank, and a hyperinflation charge held profit growth to 4 per cent.
Written with AI tools by Boards and Capital's editorial system; the publisher is responsible for it. How this site works
Emirates NBD reported profit before tax of AED 24.3bn for the first nine months of 2026 on 21 October, up 4 per cent on a year earlier, according to its results release.
Total income rose 15 per cent to AED 42.2bn, which the bank called a record, and operating profit before impairment rose 14 per cent to AED 29.0bn, but AED 2.1bn of impairment allowances, mainly provisions at DenizBank, partly offset by recoveries at Emirates NBD, took back most of the gain.
The provisions sit in the group's Turkish unit, Khaleej Times reported, and a hyperinflation adjustment of AED 2.6bn also weighed on the nine-month figure, the newspaper said; neither the release nor the newspaper says which market that adjustment relates to. The gap between income growth and profit growth is familiar from QNB's nine-month results, in which profit rose 4 per cent, or 8 per cent before hyperinflation, as reported here.
Net profit for the nine months was AED 19.3bn, up 2 per cent, and net profit for the third quarter alone was AED 6.4bn, flat on the second quarter, Khaleej Times reported. Quarterly profit before tax was AED 8.0bn, also flat on the previous three months, while quarterly income rose 6 per cent to AED 14.3bn and operating expenses rose 18 per cent to AED 4.9bn, lifting the quarter's cost-to-income ratio to 34.2 per cent from 30.7 per cent.
Loans up 27 per cent with RBL Bank
Gross loans reached AED 833bn, up 27 per cent since the start of the year, the release said. Excluding RBL Bank, which the group acquired in June, Emirates NBD's own loans grew 18 per cent. Retail loans grew 17 per cent and corporate loans 22 per cent, and new lending in the nine months totalled AED 174bn.
Deposits rose 19 per cent since the start of the year to AED 935bn, or 12 per cent for Emirates NBD excluding RBL Bank. Total assets were AED 1.38tn, up 18 per cent since the start of the year and 21 per cent on a year earlier.
Impairments, margins and capital
The AED 2.1bn impairment allowance compares with a net write-back of AED 0.3bn a year earlier, Khaleej Times reported. The release put the cost of risk at 37 basis points and said the impaired loan ratio improved to 2.0 per cent, from 2.5 per cent according to the newspaper. DenizBank's home market is one where the central bank cut its policy rate to 36 per cent on 22 October with annual inflation at 29.73 per cent, as reported here.
Net interest income rose 14 per cent to AED 29.4bn and non-funded income 18 per cent to AED 12.8bn, while operating expenses rose 19 per cent to AED 13.3bn, taking the nine-month cost-to-income ratio to 31.4 per cent from 30.5 per cent, Khaleej Times reported. The net interest margin narrowed to 3.24 per cent from 3.43 per cent, and return on tangible equity fell to 18.1 per cent from 20.9 per cent.
The common equity tier 1 ratio was 13.4 per cent, against 14.7 per cent a year earlier and 14.4 per cent at the end of 2025, the newspaper said. The liquidity coverage ratio improved by 12 percentage points over the quarter, the release said, to 147 per cent according to Khaleej Times.
Egypt and the deal pipeline
The release said the group has agreed to acquire the retail banking business of HSBC Egypt. Shayne Nelson, Group Chief Executive Officer, called the agreement "an exciting step forward in our regional growth strategy", Gulf News reported. Emirates NBD Capital is executing more than 70 debt capital markets transactions so far in 2026, raising more than $60bn across 13 countries, the release said.
Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, said: "Emirates NBD delivered record income of AED 42.2 billion for the first nine months of 2026, up 15% year-on-year". Patrick Sullivan, Group Chief Financial Officer, pointed to "quarterly profit before tax reaching AED 8.0 billion, demonstrating the consistent performance we have delivered".
Method: all figures are as published in the group's nine-month results release of 21 October and, where stated, in the Khaleej Times and Gulf News reports of the same day; percentage changes are the bank's own. The release does not break down the hyperinflation adjustment or DenizBank's share of the impairment charge, and Counting House has not estimated either.