The First Gulf Bank, a lender based out of the United Arab Emirates, said it has no plans to bid for the retail banking operations of Barclay in the country. This was confirmed by an issued statement by the bank.
The bank is the third largest in the Gulf kingdom and its CEO Andre Sayegh was quoted by Reuters to have said the bank 'may be doing due diligence' on the existing Barclays assets. This lead to the rumors as to the possible bid by the bank over the British bank's local operations.
This rumor though was allayed through a statement issued by the bank to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange last Tuesday evening. It said it had no current plans to bid for the said Barclays operations.
The UK lender opted to exit its retail banking business interests in the UAE after a review of its operations in the country was conducted. UAE banks are expected to bid for the said assets such as credit card, deposit taking operations, mortgage and personal lending.
The said withdrawal by the bank is part and parcel of the policy under the aegis of CEO Antony Jenkins. The plan includes cutting 3,700 jobs worldwide incudung the reduction of senior banker salaries and closure of specific businesses.
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