Shayne Nelson, group CEO of Emirates NBD, Dubai’s government-owned bank and one of the largest banks in the Middle East by assets, shares how NBD aims to maintain last year’s standout performance.
Global Finance: Emirates NBD posted record profits in 2024. To what does it owe this success?
Shayne Nelson: Emirates NBD Group delivered a record-breaking financial performance in 2024, driven by a clear strategic focus, agile IT infrastructure, a strong balance sheet, and exceptional execution. This enabled the group to benefit from healthy economic growth across the United Arab Emirates [UAE]—our home market—and our international footprint.
Total assets grew by 16%, which, when coupled with increased transaction volumes, drove income above AED44 billion ($12 billion) and helped deliver a 15% surge in profit before tax to over AED27 billion ($7.3 billion) in 2024.
Through strategic investments in technology and people, we have elevated the customer experience while delivering outstanding financial results and a solid balance sheet that provides a solid foundation for future growth.
GF: Do you anticipate this level of performance will continue in 2025 and beyond?
Nelson: We are relentless in our pursuit of further enhancing customer experience, being a global leader in digital innovation, and maintaining the highest regulatory compliance standards. We are extremely well positioned to keep seizing opportunities across our network and further expand our market presence as we create further and sustainable value for our shareholders and all of our stakeholders.
GF: In what areas do you see the greatest growth potential?
Nelson: We are delivering growth from many sources, including our expanded international network, our enhanced digital offering, and our broadened product offering.
The regional network is enabling us to capture more corporate business across the region. Saudi Arabia now accounts for 5% of total lending and delivered over 20% of loan growth in 2024, while our branches in India are successfully servicing Indian corporates with business interests across the Middle East.
As the affluent population continues to grow in the UAE, we expanded our digital wealth offering onto ENBD X, our mobile banking app. We have also added many new products and useful features like fractional bonds, sukuks, equities, and mutual funds, and extended the platform onto Emirates Islamic’s digital banking app, making it the first Islamic bank in the region to offer this range of investment products via mobile banking. We are a data-first bank and are successfully harvesting data to identify opportunities to grow revenue and improve our customer experience.
Finally, sustainable and transition finance remains a big opportunity for us and our customers. We are recognized as a regional leader in applying environmental, social, and governance principles (ESG), and our corporate and investment banks have supported customers throughout the region with landmark ESG-linked transactions and services.
GF: Tell us about your regional and international strategy. How are you building Emirates NBD outside the UAE?
Nelson: Our international expansion story is one of growth, diversification, and resilience. As the largest financial institution in Dubai and the region’s most profitable bank, we have leveraged our unique proposition to expand our footprint across the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, and beyond. Our extensive branch network comprises nearly 850 branches across 12 countries. This impressive growth is a testament to our ability to capitalize on opportunities in key regional markets and our commitment to meet the evolving needs of customers globally.
We remain focused on international growth and diversification to drive value for our business and our stakeholders. Our international franchise delivered a 23% increase in lending in 2024 and our network of international branches in strategic markets remains one of our core competitive differentiators, offering enhanced connectivity to clients from the region and beyond.
In 2025, we continue to focus on leveraging our regional presence to capture global trade and capital flows. In addition, we will keep enhancing our wealth management platform and product offering to meet the needs of new and existing clients. We will also keep assessing potential growth opportunities across key markets to ensure we have a meaningful international presence.
GF: You are now a veteran with Emirates NBD. How do you see the bank evolving?
Nelson: This is my twelfth year with Emirates NBD, which has a very rich history spanning over six decades. The bank has played a pivotal role in supporting the economic growth of the UAE, our communities, and indeed the wider region. We have a clear vision, world-class information technology infrastructure, a strong brand, and a motivated, agile, and adaptive workforce. The banking industry has transformed immeasurably over the last decade. Emirates NBD has seized this opportunity with great success as we have transformed into a data-first, digital-focused banking powerhouse. We remain ideally positioned to benefit from future change across our footprint.
