UAE – Mubasher: Investments of Emirati banks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt amounted to AED 111.3 billion ($30.3 billion) over the first nine months of 2019, 27.5% up from AED 87 billion in the same period in 2018, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported on Sunday, citing data from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE).

During the nine-month period ended 30 September, UAE banks’ investments in Saudi Arabia and Egypt accounted for 17.6% of their total investments abroad, recording AED 65.3 billion and AED 46 billion, respectively. 

Investments in the UK topped the list with AED 69.9 billion.

On a quarterly basis, Saudi Arabia achieved the highest Emirati banking investments by 22%, standing at AED 11.8 billion, followed by the UK by 13.9% at AED 8.5 billion. 

On the other hand, Cayman Islands has seen the lowest exposure to foreign assets by 10.1% at AED 3.9 billion, followed by India by 6.7% at AED 1.5 billion, and Egypt by 5% at AED 1.4 billion.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia showed the highest exposure to foreign assets for UAE banks abroad, including branches and subsidiaries as of September 2019, at AED 75.1 billion, followed by Turkey and the UK by AED 62.9 billion and AED 37.3 billion, respectively.

It is noteworthy that the UAE banking system is the largest across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in terms of assets, with the existing assets totalling AED 2.84 trillion by the end of September 2019.