Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: The UAE’s national banks have slashed the number of their branches across the country to 754 by May-end, compared to 771 by the end of 2017, according to the Central Bank of the UAE's (CBUAE) recent data.

While the number of exchange companies stood at 51 by 2017-end, the central bank’s data showed.

In the same vein, the branches of foreign lenders operating in the GCC nation declined to 81 on 31 May, down from 82 in December 2017.

On the other hand, employees at the UAE state-run banks stood at 35,010 in the same period, up from 34,670, the data found. Meanwhile, foreign banks’ staff dropped 0.3% to 5,598 employees.

Overall, the UAE’s national and foreign lenders are fiercely competing to develop the online banking services.