First Abu Dhabi Bank—universally known as FAB—is more than the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates. It is a financial expression of Abu Dhabi’s transformation from a regional energy capital into a global centre for investment, private wealth, trade finance and institutional banking.
FAB was created in April 2017 through the merger of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank. The combination brought together two highly complementary institutions: NBAD’s longstanding government, corporate and international banking relationships, and FGB’s strength in commercial, consumer and domestic banking. The stated purpose was to accelerate growth and create a larger institution capable of serving clients in an increasingly competitive global environment. (bankfab.com)
The result was not simply a bigger UAE bank. It was the creation of a national financial champion with the balance sheet, credit standing and international network required to compete across the world’s most important capital corridors.
From Two Abu Dhabi Banks to One Global Institution
The National Bank of Abu Dhabi was founded in 1968, while First Gulf Bank began operations in 1979. By combining their balance sheets, client relationships, technology and expertise, Abu Dhabi created an institution capable of supporting the emirate’s sovereign entities, multinational companies, entrepreneurs, family offices and private investors under one global platform. (miga.org)
That strategy is now visible in FAB’s scale.
At the end of 2025, FAB reported total assets of approximately AED 1.40 trillion—about US$382 billion—representing a 16% increase from the previous year. Loans and advances reached AED 616 billion, while customer deposits increased to AED 841 billion. The bank generated record net profit of AED 21.11 billion for 2025, an increase of 24% year over year.
FAB also maintains some of the strongest combined credit ratings in the Middle East and North Africa. Its ratings stand at Aa3 from Moody’s and AA- from both S&P and Fitch. Fitch reaffirmed its AA- rating and stable outlook in May 2026, citing the bank’s domestic franchise, funding, liquidity, asset quality and systemic importance within Abu Dhabi and the UAE.
For international clients, these numbers matter. Offshore banking is ultimately built upon confidence: confidence that a bank can settle obligations, protect liquidity, withstand market stress and maintain access to the global financial system. FAB’s balance sheet gives it the scale to operate as a serious counterparty rather than a boutique offshore institution.
Abu Dhabi’s Gateway to the World
FAB describes itself as the UAE’s global bank, and the description is increasingly accurate.
Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, its network spans more than 20 markets across five continents. International assets represented approximately AED 419 billion, or 30% of the group’s total assets, at the end of 2025. International operations contributed 19% of annual revenue, with international loans rising 35% and deposits increasing 25% during the year. (bankfab.com)
This international network helps connect three powerful pools of capital:
- Abu Dhabi’s sovereign and institutional wealth
- Entrepreneurial and private wealth from the wider Middle East
- Global investment and commercial flows moving between Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas
London remains particularly important. FAB’s predecessor, NBAD, established a London presence in 1977 and became the first Gulf-based bank to operate in the United Kingdom. FAB opened a new Mayfair office in 2025 offering private banking, corporate advisory, wealth planning, portfolio management and family-office services. (bankfab.com)
FAB also operates a Swiss private-banking business providing services that include investment execution, advisory, discretionary portfolio management, real-estate solutions and financing. (bankfab.com)
This creates a valuable geographic triangle: Abu Dhabi as the source of Gulf capital, London as an international financial and advisory centre, and Switzerland as a traditional jurisdiction for private banking and wealth management.
A Bank Built for Trade and Real Assets
FAB’s relevance to Invest Offshore readers extends well beyond personal accounts and conventional private banking.
Its global transaction-banking platform includes cash management, escrow services, correspondent banking, liquidity management, international guarantees, letters of credit, supply-chain finance and structured trade and commodity finance. Its commodity capabilities include warehouse-receipt financing, borrowing-base facilities, pre-export finance and prepayment structures. (bankfab.com)
These services place FAB close to the commercial arteries of the Gulf economy: energy, precious metals, infrastructure, food security, aviation, logistics, real estate and cross-border trade.
The UAE has become an important settlement and distribution centre for commodities moving between Africa, Asia and Europe. A bank with FAB’s balance sheet and government relationships can help finance the movement of those goods while managing currency, counterparty and settlement risk.
FAB’s global-markets business also provides foreign-exchange, interest-rate, commodity-hedging and structured investment solutions. For corporations and family offices whose assets or revenues span several currencies, the ability to combine banking, trade finance, custody, investment and risk management within the same group is increasingly valuable.
The China–Middle East Banking Corridor
One of FAB’s most strategically significant moves has been its expansion into the China–Middle East financial corridor.
In June 2025, FAB became the first bank from the MENA region to participate directly in China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, known as CIPS. Direct participation improves its ability to process renminbi payments and provide faster settlement for clients trading with China. FAB also operates a fully licensed branch in mainland China. (bankfab.com)
This development deserves attention.
For decades, much of global trade was automatically invoiced and settled in US dollars through Western correspondent banks. That system remains dominant, but major trading nations are developing additional settlement routes. FAB is positioning itself to serve clients regardless of whether a transaction is conducted in dollars, dirhams, euros, sterling or renminbi.
It is not abandoning the Western financial system. It is building connections between systems.
That may be the defining role of major Gulf banks in the coming decade: trusted intermediaries linking East and West without being entirely dependent upon either.
Gold, Programmable Payments and the New Banking Infrastructure
FAB is also experimenting with the technologies reshaping institutional banking.
In 2024, the bank completed a programmable-payment pilot using J.P. Morgan’s Onyx infrastructure. The pilot demonstrated automated, event-based funding and payment capabilities, including transactions triggered by timing and account-balance conditions. (bankfab.com)
Programmable payments could eventually reduce delays and reconciliation problems in trade finance, escrow, securities settlement and corporate treasury management. Funds can be released automatically when predefined contractual conditions are satisfied, creating a bridge between traditional bank deposits and blockchain-inspired settlement architecture.
FAB Private Banking has also partnered with financial-technology company Gilded to offer eligible professional investors digitally enabled access to institutional-quality physical gold. The service is designed to address traditional problems involving storage, insurance and authenticity verification while maintaining exposure to allocated physical metal. (bankfab.com)
That combination—regulated banking, physical gold and digital administration—is a notable indication of where private wealth management is heading. Clients increasingly want the legal certainty of conventional custody combined with the accessibility and transparency of modern financial technology.
Sustainable Finance at Institutional Scale
FAB has also made sustainable and transition finance a central component of its international strategy.
Between 2022 and the end of 2025, the bank facilitated AED 381 billion in sustainable and transition financing through approximately 280 transactions across 41 countries. That represented 76% of its stated goal of providing AED 500 billion in sustainable and transition finance by 2030. (bankfab.com)
Projects have included renewable energy, nuclear energy, green buildings, clean transportation, railway development, waste-to-energy infrastructure and electric-vehicle manufacturing.
Whatever an investor’s personal view of environmental finance, the direction of institutional capital is clear. Sovereign funds, pension plans, development banks and multinational corporations increasingly require banks capable of measuring, structuring and reporting the environmental characteristics of large transactions. FAB is building that capability at a scale few regional banks can match.
Is FAB an “Offshore Bank”?
FAB should not be understood as an offshore bank in the old sense of secrecy, lightly regulated accounts or anonymous asset holding.
It is a major, highly rated, systemically important financial institution with deep government, corporate and international connections. Clients should expect institutional onboarding, beneficial-ownership verification, source-of-funds documentation and continuing compliance reviews.
But this is precisely why FAB may matter to sophisticated international investors.
The modern offshore client is not necessarily looking for secrecy. Increasingly, the objective is lawful diversification across currencies, jurisdictions, custodians and financial systems. The priorities are political stability, strong counterparties, international connectivity, sophisticated wealth management and the ability to transact across several economic regions.
FAB offers access to a jurisdiction that is geographically positioned between East and West, commercially connected to Africa and Asia, and supported by one of the world’s strongest sovereign balance sheets.
The Invest Offshore View
First Abu Dhabi Bank represents the institutionalisation of the UAE’s rise as a global financial centre.
The merger of NBAD and First Gulf Bank created the scale. Abu Dhabi supplied the capital, sovereign relationships and strategic direction. International expansion supplied the global network. Trade finance, private banking, digital payments, gold investment and renminbi settlement are now supplying the next stage of growth.
FAB is not merely following capital into the Gulf. It is helping determine how that capital will move outward again—into infrastructure, commodities, technology, sustainable finance, global markets and private wealth.
For international investors, the greater message is that the financial map is changing. New centres of banking power are developing beyond London, New York and Switzerland. Abu Dhabi is now firmly among them, and First Abu Dhabi Bank is one of the clearest symbols of that shift.
This article is for general information and does not constitute banking, investment, legal or tax advice. Account availability, services and onboarding requirements vary according to residency, client classification and applicable regulations.
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