The United Bank for Africa (UBA) group has said that its Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), United Arab Emirates (UAE) only deals with corporates and financial institutions.
In a statement by Ramon Nasir, its head, media and external relations, on Wednesday, titled, ‘Five key facts about UBA’s operations in Dubai,’ UBA Group said that it is a wholesale jurisdiction which prohibits any retail customer dealing.
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- UBA DIFC, Dubai deals only with corporates, financial institutions
- UBA DIFC, Dubai deals only with corporates, financial institutions
The bank said it only has an “advising and arranging” license in DIFC, Dubai, which means it does not extend credit or take deposits in Dubai nor does it run a local balance sheet in UBA Dubai, hence does not open bank accounts in Dubai for any client, be it corporates or financial institutions.
The statement read, “Our key focus areas are to manage and serve the group’s corporate and financial institution (Fl) clients with the aim of deepening our share of their businesses; engage new corporate & FI clients and refer them to other UBA group subsidiaries and branches for on-boarding, lending etc.; and promote correspondent banking relationships in the Middle East.”
Other focus areas of the group include, “Broaden our client base (Corporate and FI Clients) beyond Dubai and UAE to the entire Middle East; cross-sell the group’s corporate banking products; loans and deposits will be booked in other group entities; offer letters of credit beneficiary to clients; originate transactions and negotiate deals that will be booked in other UBA group subsidiaries and branches,” the statement read.
Recall that the group had recently launched the DIFC branch which would operate under the category four licence and would be regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the financial regulatory agency of the special economic zone.
With the launch of the DIFC, UBA has established a presence in four continents and 20 African countries and four global financial centres in New York, London and Paris, making it the first Pan-African bank to establish a branch in the DIFC directly from Nigeria.
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