PUSD holds approximately USD 2.3 billion in circulating supply. Each token is backed 1:1 by reserves held in Saudi riyals and UAE dirhams, both of which are pegged to the US dollar. The stablecoin already operates on decentralised networks like Ethereum, BNB Chain, Solana and Tron. With the deployment on the ADI Chain, PUSD will be expanding the number of networks where institutions can access the token.

Talking about the ADI Chain, the latter was built as the settlement layer for a dirham-backed stablecoin jointly initiated by International Holding Company and First Abu Dhabi Bank. After the Central Bank of the UAE licensed that token, the chain’s infrastructure now supports both dollar-linked and dirham-denominated assets on the same platform.

The network, designed to support settlement corridors linking the Gulf, the broader Middle East, and parts of Africa, receives its transaction fees through its native token, PUSD. PUSD serves corporate treasuries, exchanges, and payment processors instead of individual users. It has been structured to give institutions operating under Shariah-compliant frameworks access to on-chain settlement without requiring them to use interest-bearing instruments.

Talking about the UAE’s crypto ecosystem, the Gulf major has developed a multi-layered regulatory framework for digital assets over the past two years. While the Central Bank and Abu Dhabi Global Market have each established separate rules covering stablecoins and virtual asset providers, several institutions have moved to launch dirham-pegged tokens under that framework.

“In December 2025, telecom operator e& signed an agreement with Al Maryah Community Bank to pilot a dirham-pegged stablecoin for consumer payments. RAKBank received in-principle approval from the central bank the following month to issue its own dirham-backed token, pending final regulatory and operational conditions. Universal Digital launched USDU in January, a US dollar-backed stablecoin registered under the UAE’s Payment Token Services Regulation and the first dollar-denominated token approved for payment use within that framework. The Financial Services Regulatory Authority has also granted operating approvals inside ADGM’s financial zone to Tether, Ripple USD, and Circle,” reported CMC Crypto News.

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The price tightening reflects the willingness among investors to accept lower yields in exchange for exposure to Bahrain’s credit.

“The transaction comprises a 10-year maturity, with settlement scheduled for June 10, 2026, and a maturity date of June 10, 2036. The notes carry a semi-annual coupon and will be listed on the London Stock Exchange’s main market,” reported Zawya.

Joint lead managers and bookrunners for Bahrain’s issuance included Bank ABC, Citi, First Abu Dhabi Bank, National Bank of Bahrain, JP Morgan, and Standard Chartered Bank.

There has been a steady reopening of emerging market issuance windows, with borrower activity picking up as investors seek yield opportunities in a higher-interest rate environment.

Talking about Bahraini bonds, the latter came under pressure after the beginning of the Iran war but recovered by mid-April after the UAE provided financial support. The central banks of the two neighbouring Gulf countries signed a currency swap agreement of AED20 billion, or BHD2 billion (USD 5.5 billion).

The Central Bank of Bahrain has already been in the warfighting mode to save its domestic economy from the fallouts of the Iran war and the disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz. In April, it offered a package of loan deferrals and credit card payments, along with other liquidity support for the individuals and businesses.

Banks have been given flexibility on how they classify affected loans, easing pressure on balance sheets at a time of rising uncertainty. The liquidity support, worth BHD7 billion (USD 18.6 billion), has also enabled the central bank to offer unlimited dinar funding to retail banks against eligible collateral for six months.

The apex financial institution’s move of extending its repo facility to three months, apart from cutting reserve requirements from 5% to 3.5%, has freed up additional capital to support lending.

The minimum liquidity coverage ratio and net stable funding ratio have both been reduced from 100% to 80% in order to inject more cash into the banking system and support economic activity.

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Around AED 20.04 billion to AED 21.07 billion is the estimated market capitalisation of the company, which has set the offer price range between AED 1.94 and AED 2.04 per share.

For UAE retail investors, qualified senior executives, and professional investors, the subscription period has begun and is anticipated to end on November 5, 2024. The following day (November 6, 2024), the final offer price will likely be revealed after a book-building process.

In addition, Lulu announced on October 28th that it had signed cornerstone investor agreements with the state-backed Abu Dhabi Pension Fund, the Oman Investment Authority, Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, and Abu Dhabi’s Emirates International Investment Company (EIIC) under the qualified investor offering at the offer price.

About AED 753 million has been committed by all of the Cornerstone Investors combined, with EIIC pledging to subscribe USD 100 million. The shares will be subject to a 180-day lock-up period after listing.

In a three-tier initial public offering (IPO), Lulu said that it would list 2.58 billion shares, or 25% of the company’s total share capital. A total dividend payout ratio of 75% of yearly distributable profits after taxes is the company’s goal, and it will be paid out semi-annually following its dividend policy.

In the first half of 2025, a dividend will be paid for the six months that concluded on December 31, 2024. The expected date of listing the shares on the ADX is 14 November. Emirates NBD Capital, HSBC Holdings, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and Citigroup are joint bookrunners, with Moelis & Co. retained as Financial Advisors.

Joint lead managers include First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC Bank Middle East, Emirates NBD Capital, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, and EFG Hermes. The joint lead receiving banks are FAB and ADCB, with the latter continuing to serve as a listing advisor.

Lulu, as of October 2024, has an extensive supermarket chain network in over 23 countries, including the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. The group operates over 260 stores in Middle Eastern countries, employs over 65,000 people, and achieves annual revenue exceeding USD 8 billion.

Meanwhile, Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with MA Yusuff Ali, chairman of Lulu Group, during an official visit to the UAE on October 27. During the meeting, Yusuff Ali expressed interest in expanding into the Vietnamese market, seeking support from the government and relevant ministries, while describing the Southeast Asian country as, “A wonderful country with impressive economic achievements.”

Yusuff Ali also praised the high quality of Vietnamese exports, stating that Lulu has established a representative office in Ho Chi Minh City to source Vietnamese goods for its supermarket system. The group also plans to collaborate with the Vietnamese Embassy to organise a day to promote Vietnamese agricultural products in the UAE and the wider Middle East market.

PM Chinh, during the meeting, urged Lulu Group to further promote Vietnamese products with potential that align with consumer preferences across the chain’s global supermarket system. He also suggested Lulu Group facilitate Vietnamese businesses’ participation in the Halal industry supply chain and consider investing and cooperating with potential Vietnamese partners in agricultural processing and establishing a supermarket chain in Vietnam, highlighting the country’s population of over 100 million with strong purchasing power.

PM Chinh proposed that the group coordinate with agencies to organise quarterly Vietnamese agricultural and goods promotion events in the Middle East.

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First Abu Dhabi Bank, headquartered in Abu Dhabi, offers financial solutions, products and services through its Corporate and Investment Banking and Personal Banking franchises in the regions of Asia-Pacific, Europe, two Americas, Middle East and Africa.

The bank, in 2019, started international expansion from Saudi Arabia. However, it had a bump on the way as in the same year, Qatar filed a lawsuit against three financial institutions that were allegedly involved in the 2017 plans to devalue the Qatari riyal. The suit against First Abu Dhabi Bank and Saudi Arabia’s Samba Bank was filed in New York, while the petition against another private bank, Banque Havilland, was filed in London.

However, it didn’t stop the FAB’s expansion activities and the bank has recently been ranked by Global Finance as the safest financial institution in the UAE and the Middle East. The bank also featured in The Banker’s ‘Top 1000 World Banks 2020 List’, where it also got ranked as number one in the UAE, apart from being the second-best in the Middle East and 85th across the globe.

FAB was also ranked first in the UAE, fourth among the Gulf countries and 303rd globally in the Forbes annual ranking of the world’s 2000 largest public companies.

In January 2021, Hana Al Rostamani was appointed as the CEO of the FAB. After her appointment, the venture’s net profits ended at USD 3.4 billion by the 2021 end, 19% up from the 2020 tally. And the growth path has been achieving new heights under her able guidance.

Who is Hana Al Rostamani?

• Under Hana Al Rostamani, FAB, apart from being the UAE’s largest bank and featuring in the coveted list of the world’s largest and safest financial institutions, has currently over USD 300 billion in total assets
• Hana Al Rostamani, who is FAB’s first female CEO, has been recognised in the Middle East’s banking circle for being a change-oriented leader, as she focuses on embedding a culture driven by innovation, diversity and inclusion
• She has over 25 years of experience in the domain of banking and financial services.
• Till January 2021, Hana Al Rostamani was the Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer and Group Head of Personal Banking at FAB
• Hana Al Rostamani, who has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master’s in Information Management from the United States-based George Washington University, was credited for leading the transformation of FAB’s consumer bank, where she instilled a customer and digital-first mindset among her colleagues and team members
• She previously held various leadership roles at First Gulf Bank, Citibank and AW Rostamani Group
• Hana Al Rostamani is the current Chair of the Global Council on the Sustainable Development Goals, with her key interest area being development goal 7, officially known as ‘Affordable and Clean Energy’
• She is also a Board member of entities like Buna, the Arab Monetary Fund’s cross-border payment system, the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the renowned academic institution named International Institute for Management Development (IMD) and the Executive Board of the US-UAE Business Council
• Hana Al Rostamani also got featured in Forbes’ Middle East’s list of the region’s most powerful businesswomen, where she held the first rank
• The FAB boss is also overseeing FAB’s global footprint, which, as of August 2023, has spanned 20 markets across five continents
• Under Hana Al Rostamani’s decisive leadership, FAB recorded net profits of Dhs4.2 billion in the three months to June 2023, a 61% year-on-year (YoY) increase compared to the same period in 2022

Hana Al Rostamani On FAB’s Road Ahead
First Abu Dhabi Bank is open to acquisition opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA region) and in markets beyond as long as the deals make commercial sense and create value for the UAE’s biggest lender by assets, Rostamani told The National in an interview.

“If it adds value, certainly we will look into it,” she said of a potential acquisition of an international lender, while declining to clarify whether the bank actively pursuing a deal as of now.

The lender is looking at opportunities that will help it to build and strengthen its portfolio further, apart from entering a new market, Rostamani informed the media outlet.

“So essentially, when we look at any acquisition, we broadly look at these three areas and where [the deal] fits within those three spectrums. That really adds up [to] our overall strategy,” she remarked further.

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The UAE Central Bank has forecasted that the economy will grow by around 2.5 percent overall after falling by around six percent in 2020. The non-oil sectors are expected to post a 3.6 percent growth, after shrinking by five percent last year.

The World Bank forecasts that the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s economy will contract by 4.5 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown measures introduced to counter it. The World Bank also forecasted that the economy will pick up next year and will grow at a rate of 1.4 percent. This will be attributed to the growth of the non-oil sector after the restrictions will be eased.

The Global Economic Prospects 2020 report by World Bank projected a 4.2 percent contraction for the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in 2020 and 2.3 percent growth this year.

In its report, the World Bank said, “Oil exporters have been adversely impacted by the plunge in oil prices and Covid-19 outbreaks, while oil importers are experiencing spillovers from the weakness in advanced economies and major emerging markets, pandemic mitigation measure-related disruptions, and an expected drop-off in tourism.”

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The two UAE banks are the joint coordinators and lead managers of the deal. The conventional and Islamic loan was approved by the parliament, a statement said. It is reported that Egypt initialised the loan deal with Emirates NBD Capital and First Abu Dhabi Bank in July 2020. The country seeks to obtain a one year loan worth  $2 billion in two tranches to bride its 2020-2021 budget gap created by the coronavirus pandemic. 

A banking source told the media, “When they came to the market…on the back of COVID, the pricing was dislocated, the comparables were a bit on the high end. But they managed to convince the banks to commit to a tight level. And now…,it is in line with the market’s pricing.” 

More recently, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank was launched in Egypt. It is the fifth largest bank in the Gulf with assets worth Dh 405 billion. Ihab Al-Swireky, managing director and CEO of ACDB Egypt, told the media, “The bank’s strategy is focused on five basic axes, which are achieving growth by taking advantage of the opportunities available in the local markets, sustainability through developing the deposit base, achieving the highest levels of quality and efficiency in all of our financial products and banking services, and dealing with any risks that we might face.”

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Previously, both banks were in talks for the proposed acquisition and they had made significant progress, media reports said. However, the pandemic has forced the UAE bank to pull out of acquisition discussions with Bank Audi Egypt.

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, said in a statement, “First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) has mutually agreed with Bank Audi to stop the transaction process regarding the acquisition of its fully owned subsidiary in Egypt (Bank Audi-Egypt). This is due to the unprecedented circumstances and the uncertain outlook relating to the Covid-19 pandemic, and is in the best interests of our shareholders, customers, and employees.”

According to analysts, mergers, and acquisitions in the Middle East are expected to grow after the negative effects of the pandemic settles. It is reported that nearly 20 banks were in discussions regarding mergers and acquisitions with an estimated worth of $1 trillion prior to the pandemic.

First Abu Dhabi Bank said in a statement, “The two banks have held productive discussions over the past few weeks, with significant progress made on many points. FAB would like to thank the Bank Audi team for their support and cooperation during the due diligence and the broader transaction process.”

Also, the UAE bank is facing pressure to redeem $750 million in AT1 bonds next month, media reports said. The AT1 bonds are Additional Tier 1 bonds, also known as perpetual bonds.

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Port and Free Zone World, a subsidiary of Dubai World, has decided to buy publicly listed shares of DP World.

Reportedly, Citi and Deutsche Bank underwrote $9 billion in loans for Port and Free Zone World to acquire shares in DP World. Soon, the two banks began signing up partners to distribute the debt finance.

The other banks involved in the DP World and Dubai World debt finance deal includes Bank of Nova Scotia, Credit Agricole, Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan, Samba Financial Group and Standard Chartered.

According to media reports, DP World will borrow $5.15 billion to fund a dividend to Dubai World, which is the sole shareholder of Port and Free Zone World. The loans, then will be sold to a wider group of banks in the coming weeks.

The de-listing of DP World from Nasdaq Dubai has forced credit rating agency Moody’s to put the firm under review for a potential downgrade.

In a statement, Moody’s said, “The sizable dividend payment to Dubai World breaks our current assumption that DP World’s credit profile is unaffected by the debt burden at the level of Dubai World.”

However, DP World believes the de-listing will help the company fulfill its ambition of becoming the world’s leading end-to-end logistics provider.

In the last one year, DP World has invested significantly in logistics assets all over the world to fulfill its ambition. Earlier this year, the port operator acquired a 44 percent stake in container terminal operator Swissterminal Holding.

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While the foreign ownership limit at Dubai Islamic Bank currently is 25 percent, the board of Dubai Islamic Bank wants it to be increased to 40 percent.

The change is subject to both corporate and regulatory approval.

Dubai Islamic Bank is set to become the latest bank to increase the foreign ownership limit in the GCC. Last year, First Abu Dhabi Bank, which the biggest lender in the country, proposed a similar change. Other banks to do so in the region include Emirates NBD and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

The changes are being proposed to attract more foreign investments and help the banks stay competitive.

Dubai Islamic Bank’s chief executive Adnan Chilwan told the media, “As the UAE enters a new phase of economic growth, we will continue to drive our long-term sustainable growth agenda.”

Last year, Dubai Islamic Bank also completed the acquisition of its rival Noor Bank through a share swap deal to become the largest Islamic bank in the world. The deal also helped Dubai Islamic Bank to become the fourth largest bank in the UAE by assets after First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates NBD, and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

The Dubai Islamic Bank and Noor Bank merger deal is also expected to position Dubai as a global centre for Islamic Finance.

Earlier this month, it was reported by the media that Dubai Islamic Bank could cut around 500 Noor Bank jobs as a part of the integration process.

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First Abu Dhabi Bank hired leading financial advisors such as Barclays, HSBC and Nomura to lead the bond issuance. The bonds issuance is under First Abu Dhabi Bank’s $15 billion euro medium-term note programme. 

In fact, the deal has reported to have lured nearly GBP 1.25 billion of orders in London by midday. Last month, First Abu Dhabi Bank also issued Islamic bonds or sukuks worth $500 million. 

In the Middle East, Boubyan Bank had issued $750 million in five-year sukuk, while Riyad Bank plans to issue a dollar-denominated sukuk. Emirates NBD also issued bonds worth $500 million this month.

Syed Yahya Sultan, head of fixed income strategy at Emirates NBD, said that, Emirates NBD and Boubyan have priced record-low yields on their five-year bonds and these are levels lower than US Treasuries at the same time last year.” 

Last month, Abu Dhabi Bank  sold sukuks worth $500 million, with a profit rate equal to 90 basis points, media reports said. Earlier this month, Abu Dhabi was in talks with banks to take a proactive approach to debt financing. 

Currently, Abu Dhabi has one of the best credit ratings in the region. It is rated AA by S&P and Fitch and Aa2 by Moody’s. It appears that the Abu Dhabi Department of Finance frequently assesses options under the existing bond issuance programme. 

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