The Banking Executive Magazine - January 2026 Issue

UAE Banking assets continued to record strong growth during 2025, rising by more than AED780 billion over the year to reach approximately AED5.34 trillion at the end of De- cember 2025, compared to around AED4.56 trillion at the end of De- cember 2024. The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) announced that gross banks’ assets, increased by 1.7 per- cent from AED5,251.9 billion at the end of November 2025 to AED5,339.9 billion at the end of De- cember 2025. Gross credit increased by 1.5 percent from AED2,532.9 billion at the end of November 2025 to AED2,570.3 billion at the end of December 2025. Two third of total credit growth was supported by growth of credit in for- eign currency (by AED25.8 billion) and the rest by increase of domestic credit (by AED11.6 billion). The growth in domestic credit is a re- sult of increase of credit to the pri- vate sector by 0.6 percent (contributed with 0.4 p.p. to overall growth of 0.6 percent) and credit to the Government-Related Entities (GREs) by 1.8 percent, followed by growth of credit to the OFC by 10.9 percent. Banks’ deposits increased by 2.2 per- cent, from AED3,236.6 billion at the end of November 2025 to AED3,307 billion at the end of December 2025. The increase in banks’ deposits was driven by the growth in resident de- posits by 1.3 percent reaching AED3,009.2 billion and non-resident deposits by 12.2 percent reaching AED297.8 billion. Within the resident deposits: private sector deposits increased by 2.8 per- cent reaching 2,249.6 billion, GRE deposits increased by 4.8 percent reaching AED296.2 billion. At the same time, also OFC deposits in- creased by 12.9 percent reaching AED70.0 billion, while government sector deposits decreased by 10.4 percent reaching AED393.4 billion at the end of December 2025. CBUAE also reported an increase in money supply aggregate M1 by 2.2 percent, from AED1,048.1 billion at the end of November 2025 to AED1,071.5 billion at the end of De- cember 2025. The increase was sup- ported by an increase in currency in circulation outside banks by 1.9 per- cent and in monetary deposits by 2.3 percent. The money supply aggregate M2 in- creased by 3.2 percent, from AED2,669.3 billion at the end of No- vember 2025 to AED2,754.7 billion at the end of December 2025. M2 in- creased due to AED62.0 billion growth in Quasi-Monetary Deposits. The corporate sector deposits in- creased by 3.8 percent and had the largest contribution to monthly growth of M2, providing 1.9 p.p. (out of a total 3.2 percent), primarily driven by the growth of their AEDde- mand and savings deposits. Money supply aggregate M3 also in- creased by 1.2 percent, from AED3,216.3 billion at the end of No- vember 2025 to AED3,255.4 billion at the end of December 2025. M3 in- creased due to an increase in M2. The monetary base increased by 5.4 percent, from AED850.1 billion at the end of November 2025 to AED895.7 billion at the end of De- cember 2025. The increase in the monetary base was driven by the growth in: currency issued by 1.9 percent and banks & Other Financial Corporations (OFC) current accounts & overnight deposits of banks at CBUAE by 63.4 percent, overshad- owing the decrease in reserve ac- count by 9.1 percent. While monetary bills & Islamic certificates of deposit remained almost un- changed. ISSUE 205 JANUARY 2026 the BANKING EXECUTIVE 17