RAKBank's H1-25 profit surges to Dh1.37b on higher fee income - lower impairments

22/07/2025 01:41 AST

Another leading UAE bank hits the sweet spot on H1-2025 numbers, with RAKBank carving out a strong profit after tax growth of 26.1% to Dh1.37 billion. In the April to end June phase, the bottom-line was Dh669 million, up 22%.

The gains came even as the bank consolidates its presence in the SME clientele space and adds to its investments on new tech. The capex during the first six months of 2025 totaled Dh125 million from Dh65.9 million a year ago.

At the same time, RAKBank booked lower impairment costs of Dh173 million, down by 52.5% from a year ago. "The bank's portfolio quality improves with impaired loan ratio decreasing to 1.9% from 2.4% as at H1-24," said a statement.

"We have - once again - achieved strong balance sheet growth and fee income," said Raheel Ahmed, Group CEO at RAKBank. "Card spending surged by 10% year-on-year. The bank recorded over 28 million digital logins over the last 6 months and a 15% YoY increase in digital transactions, reflecting strong customer engagement across its platforms."

ADCB is the other UAE bank to reveal bullish gains in H1-2025, and which its peers are expected to repeat in the coming days. On DFM and ADX, banking sector stocks have been doing well, over-riding the geopolitical tensions of June and the ones set off by US President Trump talking tariffs.

According to Ahmed, "We continue to broaden our corporate banking offering in trade finance, escrow services and debt capital markets, achieving landmark transactions as book-runner and coordinator. This has resulted in higher fee and non-funded income growth.

"Our financial institutions group expanded into new markets with a focus on trade."

RAKBank's key numbers
At the end of June, the bank had:

Total assets growing 18.1% year-on-year to Dh95 billion, with gross loans and advances going up to Dh51.3 billion mark, an increase of 17.4%. The growth in loans was driven by all segments, with wholesale banking loans up 33% and 'aligning with the bank's diversification strategy'.

The CASA (current account savings account) deposit base grew to Dh40.4 billion, up 12.2% YoY, with the 'CASA ratio of 66%, one of the highest in the industry'.

Gulfnews