São Paulo – The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates, should open a representative office in São Paulo in February this year. The institution plans to provide services to companies and other banks in Brazil.
“The intention is to be a business facilitator for companies and banks in Latin America, with the advantage of having much capital and liquidity,” said Angela Martins, regional manager for Latin America at the NBAD. According to the executive, the bank’s focus is to operate in facilitating relations between the Latin American countries and those in the Middle East.
“Not only foreign trade between the regions has been growing, but the capital flow has too. The United Arab Emirates is an excellent gateway into the Middle East, especially due to Jebel Ali Free Zone. And Arab investors have also been eyeing Brazil with great interest,” stated the executive.
Martins adds that the bank is still awaiting authorisation from the Central Bank of Brazil to start full operation as a representative office, but adds that work here has already started through the head office, including participation and arrangement of syndicated loans (in which several organisations join forces to loan capital to an institution). One of these loans was a US$ 1.5 billion loan to Itaú bank.
According to the regional manager, growth of trade and investment relations between Brazil and the Arab countries resulted in NBAD motivation to come to the country. “The National Bank of Abu Dhabi is an international bank that is present in 19 countries and plans to be in 40 in ten years’ time,” she said. At the moment, she says that there are no plans to open offices in other South American nations. “For the time being, the idea is, from Brazil, to cover Latin America,” she explained.
In the country, however, the institution’s plans are broad. “We aim, in three or four years, to be a wholesale bank in Brazil,” finished off Martins.
*Translated by Mark Ament
