Good day, everyone. On behalf of EFG Hermes, I welcome you to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank's 3Q25 results call. With us today is the senior management of ADCB. Management will first go over the presentation, and then we will open the floor for questions. I will now hand the call over to Harsh Wardhan , the Senior Investor Relations of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. Harsh, over to you.
Thank you, Shabbir. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this call on ADCB's third quarter 2025 financial results. We will be referring to our earnings presentation, which is available on the Investor Relations section of our website. I'm joined today by Deepak Khullar, Group CFO, and Dr. Monica Malik, our Chief Economist. We'll walk through the key highlights before opening the floor for questions. I'll now hand over to Deepak to begin from Slide 5.
Thank you, Harsh, and good afternoon, everyone. ADCB Group has continued to deliver strong progress this year, with quarter three profit before tax increasing 18% year-on-year to AED 3.2 billion, marking 17 consecutive quarters of growth. On a nine-month basis, profit before tax increased 18% year-on-year to reach AED 9.1 billion. I would like to mention here that we have applied a corporate tax rate of 9% for the nine-month period rather than the 15% DMTT, or Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax rate, introduced in January 2025. This follows a detailed evaluation that concluded that the bank is expected to meet criteria for the initial phase of international activity exclusion. The group has therefore reversed the excess tax provision recognized in the first half of 2025, and this is reflected in our Q3 income statement.
Guided by a new five-year strategy, the bank has continued to generate well-diversified top-line growth, combining disciplined credit expansion with significantly higher fee income. Against the backdrop of strong macroeconomic fundamentals in the UAE, ADCB has continued a solid pace of balance sheet growth, with loans crossing the AED 400 billion mark. Amid strong organic growth, earlier this month, we launched a rights issue of up to AED 6.1 billion to enhance capacity for significant asset growth and deliver long-term shareholder value while maintaining strong capital buffers as a leading DSIB, or Domestic Systemically Important Bank. Our loan book continues to be characterized by strong underlying credit quality, and we are guiding for full year cost of risk to come in at 63 bps to 68 bps , while reiterating our five-year guidance of below 60 bp s.
We have also taken the opportunity of the Q3 results to provide further information on our AI transformation, which is a key catalyst for delivery of the bank's growth strategy. The program sets a clear roadmap for deployment of AI across all aspects of our business, with the aim of unlocking AED 4 billion in financial value over the next few years through additional revenue generation, cost efficiencies, and risk management. Turning to Slide 6, you will see how ADCB delivered increased profitability in the first nine months, with operating income increasing 19% year-on-year to AED 16.6 billion, while operating expenses were up a moderate 3%. This strong core performance enabled the bank to deliver operating profit before impairment charge of AED 12 billion, up 26% year-on-year.
Nine-month net profit after tax came in at AED 8.1 billion, which translates to a return on average equity of 14.7%. Please turn to Slide 7, where you will see the bank's Q3 performance in more detail. Operating income increased by 25% to AED 5.9 billion year-on-year on the back of strong double-digit growth in net interest income and non-interest income. Operating profit before impairment charge was up 33% year-on-year at AED 4.3 billion. In the chart on the top right of this slide, you will see the clear and sustained trajectory of growth in profit before tax achieved over the last 17 quarters, from AED 1.3 billion in Q3 2021 to close to AED 3.2 billion in this last quarter.
Turning to Slide 8, net interest income of AED 3.8 billion in Q3 increased 4% quarter on quarter and 21% year-on-year, with higher volumes offsetting the impact of the lower interest rate environment. On a nine-month basis, net interest income was up 12% year-on-year to AED 10.9 billion. Despite a low interest rate environment, the bank's net interest margin held firm year-on-year at 2.45% in Q3 2025, 4 bps higher year-on-year and 4 bps lower quarter on quarter. This reflects an optimized cost of funds supported by a higher contribution of CASA balances in the deposit mix, as well as increased diversification of our loan portfolio across economic sectors. Turning to Slide 9, the bank's growth is characterized by increasingly diversified revenue streams as fee income continues to increase significantly across all of our core businesses.
The retail banking group, RBG, is maintaining a disciplined focus on premium customer segments while driving digital engagement and expanding fee-generating income streams, particularly in wealth solutions and foreign exchange. Meanwhile, the corporate and investment banking group, CIBG, delivered another strong quarter underpinned by deepening client relationships. The bank reinforced its position as a leading investment banking franchise, continuing to rank among the top 10 arrangers in the CEEMEA G3 Bonds League table, executing 17 debt capital markets transactions in Q3 2025, valued at $15.6 billion. In equity capital markets, ADCB played key roles in significant transactions such as the public offering of du shares by Mubadala and the IPO of ALEC Holdings by Investment Corporation of Dubai, while also serving as a lead manager and book runner for the ADCB rights issue.
In the first nine months, non-interest income increased 34% year-on-year to AED 5.8 billion, representing approximately 35% of total operating income, up from 30.6% a year earlier. In the third quarter, non-interest income grew 32% year-on-year to reach AED 2.1 billion. Q3 growth was broad-based, with a particularly strong performance in net fee and commission income, which was up 5% sequentially and 12% year-on-year. Other operating income increased by AED 176 million sequentially, primarily driven by gains from sale of loans and on hedging derivatives. On Slide 10, while the bank expands, we are driving significant productivity gains through digital-driven automation of customer services and internal processes, while also maintaining strict cost discipline. The cost-to-income ratio was 27.6% in Q3, a 460 bp s improvement year-on-year, and broadly in line with the quarterly low achieved in Q2.
Operating expenses were AED 1.6 billion in Q3, up 7% year-on-year, as the bank continued to invest in talent and technology to drive accelerated growth. We continue to view this efficiency trajectory as sustainable, supported by consistently strong operating income, effective cost management, and the benefits of our digital and AI transformation program. Turning to Slide 11, ADCB continues to drive solid balance sheet growth in the context of strong consumer and business confidence in the UAE. Total assets increased 17% year-on-year and 14% year to date to reach AED 744 billion at September end. The bank maintained a strong liquidity position with a liquidity coverage ratio of 133.1%, a liquidity ratio of 32.6%, and a loan-to-deposit ratio of 83.2% as of 30th September 2025. On Slide 12, loan growth remains robust.
As you have heard me mention before, the bank's net loans continue to grow at an accelerated pace. For the nine-month period, net loans grew 17% year-on-year from an already high and growing base, crossing AED 400 billion, and as a reminder, we grew 17% in 2023 and 16% in 2024. The bank extended AED 104 billion in new credit during the year. Key areas of growth during the third quarter included GREs, energy, trading, transport and communication, real estate investment, and financial institutions. Geographically, our loan book is well-diversified. Within the UAE, total loans reached AED 312 billion, with Abu Dhabi accounting for 51%, Dubai 20%, and the other emirates 5%. ADCB's international exposure stood at 25% at the end of Q3, with the corporate and investment banking group continuing to support multinationals operating across the region and UAE clients expanding overseas.
Turning to Slide 13, the bank's loan growth continues to be characterized by a disciplined approach to risk management. Impairments recorded in Q3 2025 primarily stemmed from a buildup of provision on a small number of legacy corporate accounts. As mentioned earlier, our medium-term cost of risk guidance remains unchanged at below 60 bp s, while we would like to provide full year guidance for 2025 in the 63 bps-68 bp s range. These levels reflect strong underlying credit quality and a well-diversified exposure profile and are not reflective of the broader credit environment or the quality of the loan portfolio. The bank's NPL ratio reached a record low of 1.86% at September end, while the provision coverage ratio rose to 187.3%, and including collateral health, the coverage ratio stood at 289%.
Turning to Slide 14, the bank's portfolio of investment securities stood at AED 159 billion, up 13% year-on-year and 11% to date, with 99.6% invested in bonds. 52% of the securities portfolio is accounted for at amortized cost and 48% at fair value through other comprehensive income and marked to market on a daily basis. Moving to Slide 15, ADCB's strong franchise continues to attract substantial inflows of customer deposits, which were up by 19% year-on-year of AED 76 billion to AED 482 billion as at September end. Current and savings account deposits, CASA, increased by 27% or AED 47 billion year-on-year. CIBG CASA deposits were up 23% or AED 21 billion year-on-year, supported by the bank's strong client engagement, particularly through the cash management and transaction banking offerings. Retail CASA was up 28% or AED 18 billion year-on-year.
Turning to Slide 16, the bank's accelerated credit growth, coupled with its diversification of the loan portfolio in the third quarter, continued to be reflected in the bank's capital ratios. As of 30th September 2025, the bank's Basel III capital adequacy ratio was 16%, and the CET1 ratio stood at 12.7%, both in line and above the UAE Central Bank minimum requirements. Moving to Slide 18, let me briefly give you a recap on our rights issue, which is an important step in the implementation of our loan growth strategy, supporting further asset growth in the context of evolving regulatory requirements. The bank is issuing up to approximately 592 million shares, priced at AED 10.3 per share, representing a 30% discount to the closing share price on 4 September, with one right allocated for every 12.36 existing shares held.
All required approvals for the rights issue have been received from shareholders, the Central Bank of the UAE, and the Securities and Commodities Authority. We are pleased to have the support of our majority shareholder, Mubadala Investment Company, which has confirmed that it plans to exercise all of its rights to subscribe in full for its proportional entitlement of the new shares offered. Moving to Slide 19, the rights issue will uplift the CET1 ratio and capital adequacy ratio by approximately 120 bp s over the June 25 numbers, positioning ADCB well in the context of an evolving regulatory landscape.
This includes a higher capital buffer recently introduced for ADCB as a DSIB, which takes effect from June 2026, in recognition of the bank's growth and stature among the UAE's largest financial institutions, as well as the countercyclical buffer that is being phased in with a full impact from January 2026. Please note that further information on the rights issue can be found on our website at adcb.com/rightsissue. Moving to Slide 21 for another key strategic initiative, the launch of the bank's AI transformation program. This is a key catalyst for delivery of ADCB's new growth strategy to double net profit to AED 20 billion within the next five years. The objective is to fully embed AI across 100% of our processes to unlock AED 4 billion in financial value over the next few years through additional revenue generation, cost efficiencies, and risk management.
The program is designed to deliver enhanced customer experience while also strengthening compliance and risk capabilities, including fraud detection, cybersecurity, and operational resilience. Over 150 AI use cases are being activated at an accelerated pace over the coming years, supported by investments in scalable infrastructure, cloud capabilities, and robust data foundations. Several AI platforms are already in use by the board, executive management, and employees, while strategic partnerships with global AI leaders have been formed to accelerate AI integration. A Chief AI Officer has been appointed to lead a specialized AI team focused on execution across all lines of businesses, with ADCB executive leadership accountable for AI program delivery with hands-on involvement. Further information on the AI transformation program can be found on our website at adcb.com/ai. Moving on to Slide 23 for ESG updates.
ADCB's 2025 Green Bond Report highlighted a 17% year-on-year expansion in the bank's eligible green loan portfolio. The bank has channeled proceeds into renewable energy, sustainable real estate, and water management projects, reflecting our ongoing commitment to financing a low-carbon economy. Turning to S lide 25 and the operating environment, we remain positive on the UAE's macro fundamentals, which we feel will continue to support positive business and consumer confidence. UAE PMI data remain firmly in expansionary territory in 2025, reflecting strong business activity underpinned by resilient domestic demand. Liquidity conditions in the UAE banking system remain comfortable, with gross deposit growth continuing to outpace credit growth. ADCB is well-positioned to capitalize on growth opportunities in the UAE and broader region, supported by a strong capital base, robust balance sheet, high-quality loan book, and diversified income streams.
Before we open up for questions, I will conclude with some final remarks on Slide 26, where you will also see our five-year and full-year guidance. ADCB is making strong progress in the implementation of our strategy, driving accelerated growth and operational efficiencies. We are on track to achieve 15% return on equity in full year 2025, in line with our five-year guidance. The bank has well-diversified income streams with balanced contributions from net interest income and fee-based businesses, reinforcing earnings resilience. We continue to see robust loan growth across key economic sectors, supported by solid CASA inflows that sustain a strong and efficient funding mix. Our growth is defined by strong asset quality, and we expect cost of risk to come in at between 63 bps to 68 bp s for the full year 2025, while five-year guidance remains unchanged.
Meanwhile, strategic initiatives are underway to support long-term growth, including the AI Transformation Program and the rights issue. Thank you again for your continued engagement with ADCB. We will now open the floor for questions.
Thank you, Deepak, for the presentation. We will now open the floor for questions and answers. May I request the audience to limit themselves to two questions? If you have any further questions, you can always reach to Harsh, Head of Investor Relations, offline after the call. As we wait for the questions to be logged in, maybe I can start with a couple of questions from my side. My first question is on asset quality and provisioning. So provisioning was relatively elevated in the second quarter. However, as a result of that, we see that NPL coverage is now at 187%. NPL cover with collateral is close to 290%.
I think these numbers are quite high in a historical context. I would like to know what is the management's desired level of NPL coverage, and what does it mean for the cost of risk going into 2026? And my second question is around loan growth. This quarter, we saw another quarter of very solid loan growth, and it partly explains why you wanted to do a capital raise. My question is, how different is this actual growth versus what you were expecting earlier this year or when you started out with the five-year strategy? Thank you.
Thank you, Shabbir. And let me take the second question first, loan growth. Yes, we're very pleased with the momentum of loan growth that we're seeing and exactly why we announced the rights issue. And we mentioned that we're seeing loan growth come faster than what we had anticipated.
Our initial assessment for the year was sort of low teens or mid-teens. We're already clocking 14%, and we still have another quarter to go. We expect to see a similar momentum for the fourth quarter as well. So hopefully, we should end at the late teens in terms of loan growth. So where we were from early teens to ending in the late teens is sort of the kind of differential you would see from our initial expectation to where we will finally land. On asset quality, your question was around coverage ratio. So we do not target a coverage ratio. We do build up provisions where we see we require more provisions. We are always prudent in anticipating clients or areas where we need to build up those provisions.
As I mentioned in quarter two, and we are also saying for quarter three, we have taken additional provisions on a couple of legacy accounts in the corporate bank. And these are based on developments that we see on those accounts. And this is not a factor of the underlying credit quality of the book. The underlying credit quality is strong. The underlying cost of risk is much, much lower than the 73 bp s that you see for the nine-month period. Yes, we've had two quarters, two and three, of elevated cost of risk, but we're guiding that the cost of risk for the full year will be between 63 bps and 68 bp s, which kind of indicates that quarter four will be more likely in line with the quarter one cost of risk to bring us to that level.
Even when you see last year, we did not have a uniform cost of risk in 2024. Quarter one and quarter four were elevated, while quarter two and quarter three were much lower, giving us an overall cost of risk of 58 bp s last year. So it's very difficult to predict each quarter what the exact amount would be because this is net cost of risk. It also depends on recoveries, which we expect to see those coming through. The timing of those recoveries and the quantum of those recoveries cannot be determined with precision, but we expect overall cost of risk to be in that 63 bps to 68 bps corridor. And our guidance for the medium term remains below 60 bp s. On the retail banking side, again, we continue to see a far lower delinquency ratio than the rest of the banking sector.
These are 30 days past due. I think the overall banking sector for September 25 was 2%, and ADCB's delinquency rate was 0.9%. And this trend is across all the retail sectors: personal loans, cards, mortgages, and auto loans, where we see a 30 days past due delinquency way, way below than the UAE banking sector. So I hope that answers your question, Shabbir.
Yes, it does. Thank you so much. We'll now move to the queue. Our first question is from the line of Murad Ansari. Give me one second, please. Murad, your line should be open.
Yes. Good afternoon, and thank you for the presentation. Congratulations on a very strong set of results. I just wanted to go back to the asset quality question that Shabbir had asked.
So from the sale of NPLs that's happened in the last quarter, I'm assuming that there's part of buildup of provisioning that you've taken in this third quarter that's related to this NPL portfolio. So I think you've done this in previous years as well, where NPL portfolio has been sold, and you've had to take that provisioning up to 100%, and then the recovery shows up in non-interest income. So I just wanted to confirm that it's a similar case this quarter as well. And is it possible for you to give us maybe an adjusted kind of cost of risk for these, excluding this legacy NPLs, just to understand what the normalized cost of risk, excluding these legacy provisions are? Secondly, this is the second quarter you've provided for on legacy portfolio.
This quarter, it seems like a lot of it is linked to the NPL portfolio sale that's happened. Just wanted to get a sense of the provisions in the previous quarter and this quarter, any linkages in terms of accounts? So these are separate accounts where you've raised these provisioning levels? Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you, Murad. No, I think the extra provisioning is not on the sale of the loans that we've had. Those were primarily fully provided for already. And so the sale of those loans has not contributed to the extra provisioning that you see. These are on a few other corporate accounts, which are legacy accounts, where we see certain developments. And as a matter of prudence, we've decided to take additional provisioning on those. So that's primarily where we see that additional provisioning coming in.
We do not break down the cost of risk between the total cost of risk and the adjusted cost of risk or the underlying, but all I can say to you is that a majority of the provisioning in both quarter two and quarter three relates to the legacy accounts, and the underlying cost of risk is, I would say, below 40 bp s in that sense,
and both these quarter provisionings are separate accounts, legacy accounts, where you've provided there is no buildup of provision that's carried on from second quarter to third quarter?
There is no one particular sort of answer to that. On certain accounts, yes, we have built up on the same accounts as we see developments on those accounts, and we assess those accounts on a quarter-end basis, so wherever there are positive developments, we will obviously lower the provisions.
Wherever things are a little bit more not positive, we will build up the provisioning. So it depends on account to account.
Thank you so much.
We'll now move to the next question. This is from the line of Nitish. Hi. Nitish, your line should be open.
Yeah. Thanks a lot. This is Nitish Agarwal from Citi. Thanks for the presentation. I have a couple of questions. My first question is on your retail lending growth. This has been a bit sluggish over the last few quarters when you compare to some of your peers who are seeing very strong growth in this segment. So can you please comment on your strategy there? And my second question is basically on your AI strategy. So you mentioned that about 84 billion in value to be created from this. Can you give a little bit more detail on this?
What part of this will be in cost savings and what in additional revenue? And over what period should we expect these and where will these come from? And also, should we expect the cost to go up in the medium term while you invest in these AI projects? Yeah, that's about it. Thanks.
Thank you, Nitish. Let me pick on the AI strategy first. I think one of the key elements that people have been requesting or the market has been requesting is the building blocks of our five-year strategy. And AI is a core pillar of ADCB's five-year strategy, and it sits at the heart of the plan to double our net profit to AED 20 billion over the next five years. We've got a very clear execution path with phased value delivery, which will drive our long-term competitiveness and efficiency.
Gains from the implementing of our AI roadmap basically represent across three major areas that I mentioned, which is around revenue, customer engagement, operations and risk, and reducing the cost of doing business. This is not going to be sort of linear year-on-year, but the investments that we make in the first couple of years are going to drive the benefits over the next five-year period. This is a recurring AED 4 billion impact that you will see, financial impact, over the next few years. In terms of the split between revenue and cost, I would say, and risk, I would say probably roughly half and half between revenue and cost and risk is a balance of 50%. The last piece of your question was, will we see a cost base go up?
No, we plan to hold the cost base flat or reduce it as we go along this journey. There will be significant investments being made in AI, but we expect the benefits that are being realized from that to fund these investments as well. You would see that this year, the bank grew its asset base (sorry, its cost base) only by 3%, whereas operating income went up by 19%. So if you look at the nine-month period, our operating income went up from AED 14 billion to AED 16 billion or 19%, and cost base was from AED 4.4 billion to AED 4.5 billion. So income up 19%, cost up only 3%. That's a 16% jaws. Or in other terms, to generate an income of AED 2.6 billion dirhams, the bank spent only AED 132 million dirhams. So your additional cost-to-income ratio is coming at a cost-to-income of 5%.
Got it. Thanks.
Thank you.
We'll now move to the next question. This is from the line of John. John, please. John, your line should be open.
So my first question, please, is on capital and dividends. How should we think about what minimum CET1 ratio you're looking to run the bank at, given the heightened capital requirements that you show on Slide 19? And how should we think about how you manage growth versus dividends? Should we imagine that the dividend is fairly incrementally progressive, at least in the early years, to fund potentially high teens' growth? And then my second question, please, is just in the context of the 20% profit growth target reiterated for this year, backing out the first nine months, that would mean you need to deliver around AED 3.2 billion of profit in the fourth quarter to hit 20% growth, so slightly up on Q3.
Just wanted to double-check that's the kind of ballpark you're aiming for. Thank you.
Thank you, John. And yes, we are looking to deliver the 20% growth, return on equity of 15% for the year. And we've reiterated that guidance for the full year 2025 as well. And in terms of dividends, we maintain the guidance we gave to the market, paying out AED 25 billion over the next five years. What that means basically is a progressive dividend policy year-on-year, with the dividend per share increasing, but the payout ratio coming down. As a result, there's far more internal capital generation to drive the significant growth that we're seeing coming through, 16% and 17% in 2023, 2024, and we've already seen 14% in 2025. And the last part of your question was around the minimum CET1 that we target.
The requirements have gone up, but we'd definitely like to stay above the 12% mark and keep a little buffer above that as well. We're also driving proactively our capital management to drive further efficiency on RWA efficiency and realizing benefits on various other initiatives on the demand side as well. So we would be managing this very carefully. The new rights issue of AED 6.1 billion also gives us the additional power to drive the growth that we're seeing coming through.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you, John. We'll move to the next question. This is from the line of Chiro Ghosh.
Hi. Chiro Ghosh from SICO Bahrain. So the first question is related to the other income. So there have been different kinds of one-off gains that have happened over the last three quarters.
So can you please guide us on what we believe should be the sustainable non-interest income part of it? I'm just trying to get a sense because in my model, I'm trying to extrapolate how to reach this AED 20 billion over the next four years, considering this year we might be making AED 11 to AED 11.5 billion. So this other income part might be interesting to know. Another thing is a slightly technical side of it. So I was just observing that your loans, the fresh loans that were disbursed, the nine-month total is AED 104 billion, and repayment was AED 52 billion. While last year, it was AED 97 billion, while the repayment was similar. So how should we read this repayment versus disbursement side of it? So has the disbursement been lower this year, or how should we read it? These are my two questions.
So thank you, Chiro.
On the loans and disbursements or repayments, I don't think there's a pattern to be drawn out there. We've seen strong growth coming in in terms of disbursements. And the repayments depend on the maturities of the contracts as well as the loans. And they could differ year-on-year. You could have a higher maturity in a particular quarter, lower one in the following quarter. So I don't think you can draw a pattern. I think what is more important is what is the net loan growth that we're driving. And in certain cases, there is either an increased financing also to the existing clients. In certain cases, the loans mature, and that's it. And so again, I don't think there's a pattern that you can draw out there. And so what was the first part of the question?
And a normalized run rate for other income going forward.
Yeah. So the other income, obviously, again, has a number of one-offs in it. For this nine-month period, we've had one-offs in terms of sale of the corporate loans, hedging derivatives, gain on sale of some fixed assets, and some gain on sales from non-trading securities in there. So I think the one-offs in terms of sale of corporate loans is definitely not repeatable every quarter. But I think what is more important on the non-interest income side, what you can model is around net fee and commission income and trading income, which have both grown 14% and 28% respectively year-on-year. And on the fee and commission income, we've seen strong growth across the board: loan processing fee, asset management, trade finance, all up in double digits. The only one you see which is stable is card-related fees.
And that's not so much around that the fees haven't increased. The revenue on card-related fees have increased, but this is the net contra of all the benefits and the charges that we pay to Mastercard and Visa, where we've seen an increase in those charges. And this is not only for ADCB, but this is uniformly across the board. And therefore, you see that as stable. So I think you should see a similar level of growth coming through on fee and commission income and trading income as well. But other operating income, the one-offs, will be lumpy from quarter to quarter.
Thank you. We'll move to the next question. This is from the line of Olga. Olga, your line should be open.
Hi. Hello. Good day. Thank you for taking questions. My first question is on corporate income tax for next year.
Can you manage your net tangible assets abroad to make sure that you do qualify for the 9% in 2026? So my question is, why is it not certain whether you can qualify or not? Why can you not manage it manually? Question number one. My second question is on expansion abroad. Does the Central Bank of the UAE set a limit on foreign banks' exposures as a percentage of capital or risk-weighted assets? Are there any limitations rather than open foreign currency position? That's number two. And third, quick question, technically, which criteria triggered the increase of the DSIB buffer for you? Was this the size of balance sheet share of the federations outside of UAE? What was the catalyst? Thank you.
Yeah. Okay. So let's start with the DSIB issue. We do not get a reason as to why the DSIB percentage was increased.
The central bank does not communicate that. But we're a much, much larger bank. I think when the DSIB was introduced for ADCB, from memory, we were around the AED 400 billion mark for the total balance sheet size. We've crossed the AED 700 billion now. And clearly, we're a far more systemically important bank than when we had a 0.5% as a DSIB buffer. And so therefore, they give you a year's guidance to implement that. And so that, I would suspect, is the size of the growth of the balance sheet. On the corporate income tax, I think your question was, why can't we manage this manually? If I get the question right.
Yes, correct.
Yeah.
Can you be confident? Yeah, about 2026.
There are a number of factors here in terms of how to manage because it is an average of the opening and closing balance of the tangible assets that you have to determine. It is determined based on the exchange rate existing at the last year end. For example, for 2025, it will be the exchange rate for the euro for the period of December. Those change. Then translation from individual countries outside of the UAE to the dirham and then translation into the euro also has an impact on where you can end on the number. There are a number of factors that can change that. Obviously, the bank is managing that very closely. The other element is not having a permanent establishment from a tax perspective in more than six jurisdictions, including the UAE. That is also something we're managing.
And we will continue to manage that into 2026 as well. And as we move into 2026, we will also advise the market on where we stand with the tax rate for that. But I think for now, we feel confident that for 2025, we should be able to avail of this exemption.
Thank you. And there was a question on central bank limits on foreign banks' exposures abroad.
Can I just get back to you on that? Harsh will get back to you. There are a few limitations, but we'll get back to you on that.
Sure. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you, Olga.
Thanks. We'll take one last question. This is from the line of Mehmet. Mehmet, your line should be open.
Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks very much for taking my question.
I just wanted to come back to the cost of risk trend this quarter, again, if I may. I was just trying to understand what's really triggering this because if you go back to the second quarter, if I remember your comments, I think it was broadly seen as a one-off at that quarter. You didn't see a need to revise the cost of risk guidance for the full year. So is there any room for further potential surprises down the road, or do you think that's done now? And can I also ask, is there an element of maybe using the tax benefit for this quarter opportunistically to increase coverage there? And could we see a release of those provisions in the coming period, maybe next year or so? Thanks very much.
Yeah.
I think the question around the buildup of these provisions, as I mentioned earlier, is based on the developments that we see around a few corporate accounts. And being prudent, we have built up those provisions in quarter two and quarter three. And as I mentioned earlier, we expect to see a full year cost of risk to come in that 63 bps to 68 bp s corridor, which basically means that our quarter four cost of risk is more likely to be in line with our Q1 cost of risk, which was around 49 bp s or even lower. So that indicates that there is no further deterioration or additional provisioning that we anticipate to take on these accounts. And also, we're guiding to the medium-term cost of risk to be below 60 bp s.
That should also give you some comfort that we don't anticipate these buildups over the next few years, followed by our NPL ratio, which today stands at a very low 1.86%. We are not seeing new NPL formation come through. If you notice over the last several years, I would say two to three years now, our GRE lending and sovereign lending has increased significantly. As I've been reiterating on a number of occasions, we are focused now on running the bank to risk-adjusted NIM and not gross NIM. Our risk-adjusted NIM, barring these last two quarters, has been fairly stable and improving.
So we expect that while we may have on sovereigns and GREs, because of the higher credit quality, we may have slightly lower spreads, but that is more than made up by a lower cost of risk on the newer loans that we've been booking, and the Q2 and Q3 are primarily on a few legacy accounts, which we hope we're done with, and quarter four should be much lower.
Okay. That's clear. Thanks very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have for today. If you have any further questions, you can reach out to Harsh offline after the call, and Deepak, I'll hand the call back to you. If you have any concluding remarks, please go ahead.
No, I'd just like to thank everybody on the call for their time to attend the call.
If there are any further questions, and I know I will come back to Olga on one of the questions, but if there are any further questions, please write into Harsh or reach out to him, and we'd be very happy to answer those. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Deepak. Thank you, rest of the management team. Thanks to the participants. Hope you have a nice day. Bye for now.
Thank you.