RIYADH: The UAE banking sector’s liquid assets reached 801.52 billion dirhams ($218.2 billion) by the end of the second quarter of 2024, reflecting a 20.2 percent year-on-year increase, official data showed.
According to the latest report from the Central Bank of the UAE, the increase reflects a jump from 666.6 billion dirhams in the same period last year. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, it increased by 2 percent, or 14.9 billion dirhams, compared to 786.6 billion dirhams at the end of the first quarter of this year.
Liquid assets accounted for 18.9 percent of the sector’s total assets, which reached 4.2 trillion dirhams by June.
This comes as the UAE banking sector demonstrates strong growth and resilience amid global challenges. The CBUAE has supported this expansion with record increases in assets, credit, deposits, and investments, while maintaining robust capital efficiency and reserves.
The report also highlighted the UAE banking system’s strong capitalization, with a total capital adequacy ratio of 18.3 percent at the end of the second quarter, improving from 18 percent in the first three months of the year, and 17.9 percent in the last quarter of 2023.
This ratio remained significantly above the minimum regulatory requirement of 13 percent, including a 2.5 percent capital buffer and a minimum Tier 1 capital ratio of 8.5 percent.
This metric, which measures core capital, stood at 17 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2024, up from 16.7 percent in the first three months of the year and 16.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Meanwhile, the Common Equity Tier 1 ratio, a key measure of a bank’s financial strength, rose to 15.3 percent, up from 15 percent in the inaugural quarter of 2024 and 14.9 percent in the last quarter of 2023.
The UAE banking sector has demonstrated growth and stability in recent months, with the net international reserves seeing a surge of 29 percent, totaling 1.23 trillion dirhams by the end of May. This total includes 763.88 billion dirhams held by the CBUAE and 472.68 billion dirhams held by other banks operating in the UAE.
In conjunction with this, CBUAE’s gold reserves grew by 19.7 percent year on year, reaching 20.61 billion dirhams. The gold reserves also saw a 1.3 percent increase in May compared to April.
Time deposits increased by 17 percent to 842.98 billion dirhams, while demand deposits grew over 10 percent to 1.04 trillion dirhams. UAE Funds Transfer System transactions reached 7.9 trillion dirhams by May, up 17 percent from the previous year.
