Mubasher: The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) said that the merger of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and First Gulf Bank (FGB) will be announced on 1 April, as reported by Emirates News Agency (WAM).

Trading of new shares following the merger will start from 2 April onwards, according to ADX.

In December, the shareholders of the two banks endorsed the merger during the general assembly, and was also approved by the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates.

ADX stated that it had completed the procedures for the unification of the records of the stakeholders in both banks and is pursuing experiments to ensure there are no technical obstacles to the trading, as per the new share values.

The indicative market price of the new shares will be calculated based on the last traded price of the shares of both banks in the market before the merger, it explained.

The merger will contribute to reducing the operating costs of the new entity by AED 500 million a year, with the interest cost expected to be realised within three years, while the estimated one-time business unification cost would be AED 600 million.