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Abu Dhabi / WAM
Deposits by individuals continued to rise in UAE banks during the last quarter of 2020, hitting around AED13 billion despite economic challenges, statistics by the central bank of the UAE have showed.
This ratcheted the cumulative balance of deposits in UAE banks up to AED493.9 billion by the end of December from AED480.9 billion in September of the same year.
According to apex bank’s statistics, individual deposits account for 26.2% of the total balance of this investment vehicle, including all its types and terms, which altogether stood at around AED1.884 trillion by the end of 2020.
Meanwhile, Abdulhamid M. Saeed Alahmadi, the governor of CBUAE and CEOs of the largest banks operating in the UAE, noted that the overall liquidity of the UAE banking system returned to pre-Covid level. The banks’ drawdown of the dedicated TESS zero-cost liquidity facility was AED22 billion in March, down from the maximum drawdown of about AED 44 billion reached in Q2 2020, consistent with the temporary nature of the payment deferral scheme.
From the inception of the TESS programme, more than 320,000 customers, including individuals, small to medium-size enterprises and other private corporations have benefitted from it. There are about 175,000 customers under the current TESS deferral arrangements.
Abdulhamid M. Saeed Alahmadi, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), today conducted the first quarterly meeting this year with the CEOs of the largest banks operating in the UAE.
The meeting’s agenda focused on the effectiveness of the Targeted Economic Support Scheme (TESS) in mitigating the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the UAE’s economy.