Good afternoon. Good morning, everyone. My name is Aybek Islamov. I'm an emerging markets financials analyst at HSBC. On behalf of- Recording in progress. On behalf of HSBC, I'd like to welcome you to Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank's full year 2025 Earnings Conference Call. With us today we have the senior management of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank. With no further ado, I'd like to hand over the call to Mr. Harsh, Head of Investor Relations. Over to you, Harsh. Thank you.
Thank you, Aybek, and good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this call on ADCB's fourth quarter and Full Year 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, Robbert Muller, Group Treasurer, and Monica Malik, our Chief Economist. We will take you through the key highlights of the year and the fourth quarter 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. 2025 marked a strong beginning to ADCB's 5-year strategic cycle, with solid execution and sustained momentum through the fourth quarter. We achieved a record profitability, stronger returns, enhanced efficiency, resilient asset quality, and a further reinforced capital base. These outcomes underscore the quality of our portfolio and the effectiveness of our strategic focus. Profit before tax increased 21% year-on-year to AED 12.8 billion , extending our track record to 18 consecutive quarters of growth. The bank delivered a record full-year net profit after tax of AED 11.4 billion , up 22%, resulting in a return on average equity of 15.3%. Fourth quarter net profit after tax grew 30% year-on-year to AED 3.3 billion . This performance was driven by broad-based income expansion and further gains in operating efficiency.
Operating income rose 14% for the full year, while our cost-to-income ratio improved by 280 basis points to a record low of 28.2%. Balance sheet growth remained robust against the backdrop of strong economic fundamentals in the UAE. Net loans increased 16% to AED 406 billion, and customer deposits rose 19% to AED 500 billion. Growth was supported by healthy CASA inflows across retail, corporate, and private banking, with CASA balances representing 46% of total deposits, reinforcing our low-cost, stable funding profile. During the year, we also strengthened the bank's capital position. The successful completion of a landmark AED 6.1 billion rights issue in the fourth quarter further supports future income, organic growth, and positions us ahead of evolving regulatory requirements.
In line with the strong performance and capital strength, the board has recommended, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, a cash dividend of AED 0.63 per share for 2025. This represents a total payout of AED 4.99 billion, equivalent to 44% of net profit, reflecting our commitment to delivering sustainable and attractive returns to shareholders. On slide 6, you will see that the bank has achieved 2025 guidance across all key metrics. With closing ratio of 13.79, above our guidance of more than 12%, and supported by the successful rights issue, strong organic capital generation, and disciplined balance sheet growth. Our cost of risk for the full year was 59 basis points, coming in below both our full year guidance of 63-68 basis points and our 5-year guidance of below 60 basis points.
This reflects continued improvements in portfolio quality, strong recoveries, and our prudent risk discipline. Return on equity reached 15.3%, fully consistent with our ambition to deliver returns above 15% every year under the current strategy. In addition, net profit growth exceeded our annual target of 20%, demonstrating the sustainability of our earnings momentum. Dividend payout of AED 0.63 per share is also aligned with our commitment to deliver AED 25 billion in shareholder distributions over the 5-year course of our strategy. Turning to slide 7 and the full-year income statement. In 2025, top-line growth remained strong across all core businesses, with both net interest income and non-interest income delivering double-digit growth. This broad-based momentum reflects the strength of our franchise, the depth of client activity, and the resilience of our balance sheet in a shifting rate environment. Operating expenses increased by 4% year-on-year.
This disciplined approach, combined with solid revenue growth, resulted in positive jaws and drove 19% increase in operating profit before impairment charges to AED 15.9 billion. A clear demonstration of our ability to generate operating leverage while continuing to invest strategically in technology and talent.... I would also like to remind you that for both the full year period and the fourth quarter, we applied a corporate tax rate of 9% rather than the 15% domestic minimum top-up tax introduced at the start of 2025. This follows a detailed evaluation that concluded that the bank meets criteria for the initial phase of international activity exclusion, ensuring that our tax treatment is fully aligned with the evolving regulatory framework. Slide 8 provides a closer look at the quarterly performance.
The chart on the right highlights a remarkable run of 18 consecutive quarters of earnings growth, a track record that speaks to the consistency, resilience, and scalability of the franchise. Impairment charges in Q4 2025 were significantly lower at AED 183 million, reflecting higher recoveries and provision releases. Profit before tax was 30% higher year-on-year at AED 3.8 billion. Turning to Slide 9. Full year net interest income increased 11% to AED 14.7 billion, supported by strong volume growth across the loan book, particularly in the corporate banking business. Quarter four 2025, net interest income increased 9% year-on-year to AED 3.8 billion, supported by continued balance sheet growth. Margins remained resilient despite the impact of 6 benchmark rate cuts since September 2024.
This was underpinned by disciplined management of our funding mix, strong CASA inflows, and continued diversification of the loan portfolio across key economic sectors. Turning to Slide 10. As the business has scaled, income growth has become increasingly well-balanced across interest and fee-based activities. In 2025, non-interest income increased by 20% to AED 7.5 billion and represented 34% of total operating income, versus 32% in 2024, reflecting the growing diversification of our revenue base. Growth was broad-based, with strong contributions from net fee and commission up 16% year-on-year, and net trading income up 32%, supported by higher gains from foreign exchange and derivatives. Within fees, we were particularly encouraged by the continued momentum in asset management, where fees increased 23%, reflecting the expansion of our private banking and wealth management business.
Assets under management grew 50% year-on-year, demonstrating the strength of our client franchise. Quarter four, non-interest income declined 12% year-on-year to AED 1.7 billion, reflecting a particularly higher base in quarter four of last year, which included significant gains from the extinguishment of corporate loans. Excluding this one-off gain booked in quarter four 2024, the underlying increase in quarter four 2025 non-interest income was 41% year-on-year. Importantly, the underlying activity remains strong. Net fees and commission income increased 23% year-on-year, and net trading income rose 46%, driven by higher foreign exchange and derivative flows, and a net gain on financial assets at fair value through P&L. Turning to Slide 11. As the bank continues to scale, we are unlocking substantial productivity gains through technology-enabled enhancements across both customer-facing services and internal operations, underpinned by a disciplined approach to cost management.
In 2025, the cost-to-income ratio improved by 280 basis points year-on-year to a record low of 28.2%, supported by strong revenue growth and the efficiencies generated through our digital and AI-led transformation. Operating expenses increased 4% year-on-year, reflecting continued investment in people, infrastructure, and technology to support our long-term strategic objectives and ensure the bank remains positioned for future growth. Looking ahead, we expect to capture further productivity gains through deeper automation and the continued rollout of our program to embed AI across the bank. On Slide 12, you will see that the bank delivered significant balance sheet expansion, supported by a healthy operating environment and strong consumer and business activity. Total assets increased 19% to AED 774 billion, reflecting broad-based growth across the franchise.
The bank also maintains a robust liquidity profile with a liquidity coverage ratio of 131.3%, a net stable funding ratio of 109.2%, and a loan-to-deposit ratio of 81.2% at year-end. These metrics underscore the strength of our funding base and our capacity to support continued growth. Turning to Slide 13. ADCB delivered strong net loan growth of AED 55 billion in 2025, a 16% increase year-over-year, supported by healthy credit demand across the UAE's resilient economic backdrop and sustained momentum in lending. This marks the third consecutive year of loan growth of 16% or higher, reflecting the bank's disciplined execution of its strategic priorities and continued expansion of high-quality customer relationships.
Turning to Slide 14, the bank's expansion continues to be underpinned by strong asset quality, supported by a disciplined approach to risk management. Cost of risk for the year was 59 basis points, coming in below the full year guidance and fully aligned with our 5-year target. This reflects the continued strength of the portfolio and our proactive credit oversight. The NPL ratio declined to a record low of 1.83% at year-end, while the provision coverage ratio increased to 146.4%, or 249%, including collateral, further reinforcing the resilience of our balance sheet. Impairment charges increased 8% year-on-year, reflecting our continued commitment to maintaining conservative provisioning and ensuring the portfolio remains well protected as it scales. The overall credit performance of the book remains strong and aligned with our approach to prudent risk management. I'll now hand over to Robbert.
Thank you, Deepak, and let's turn to Slide 15. The investment securities increased 16% year-on-year to AED 166 billion , remaining almost entirely invested in bonds, with a clear emphasis on sovereign and investment-grade exposures. This reflects our continued commitment to maintaining a high-quality, liquid, and capital-efficient portfolio. Our investment group provides both stability and ready liquidity to the balance sheet. The portfolio is 49% carried at amortized cost and 51% at fair value through other comprehensive income and is marked to market daily. Importantly, portfolio growth during the year was stable in composition, aligned with our disciplined risk appetite and our focus on supporting balance sheet resilience. Turning to Slide 16. ADCB continues to attract potentially positive inflows, with total deposits increasing 19% in 2025 in dirhams.
This strong performance reflects the depth of our franchise, the trust of our clients, and the broadening of our banking relationship across both corporate and retail segments. A key highlight has been the continued expansion of our CASA franchise, which grew by AED 46 billion in 2025, which is an increase of 25%, and it accounted for 59% of total deposit growth during the year. This momentum was broad-based, with corporate CASA balances up 20% and retail CASA up 30%, demonstrating the strength of our cash management offering and the increasing engagement of our retail customers. At year-end, CASA deposits represented 46% of total customer deposits, up from 44% a year earlier, further reinforcing the bank's stable and cost-effective funding profile and supporting our ability to deliver sustainable growth.
On Slide 17, you will see that the bank's capital position strengthened during the year, supported by strong internal capital generation and the rights issue completed in December. As a result, the CET1 ratio increased by 123 basis points in 2025 to 13.79% at year-end, reflecting our continued focus on maintaining a high-quality, resilient capital base. The capital adequacy ratio reached 17%. These levels position ADCB well to support future growth while sustaining buffers that are aligned with our prudent risk appetite and long-term strategic objectives. I'll now hand back to Deepak.
Thank you, Robbert. I would also like to take a moment on Slide 18 to highlight the success of our recent rights issue. The AED 6.1 billion transaction attracted more than AED 12 billion in funded commitments, underscoring the depth of investor confidence in the bank's strategy and long-term value creation. Our majority shareholder, Mubadala, subscribed fully to its entitlement, and the remaining shares were more than 3 times oversubscribed by a broad base of regional and international institutional investors, as well as strong pro-rata participation from retail investors. The breadth and quality of demand reflect the strength of our franchise and the market's conviction in the value we are creating. This landmark transaction represents the largest ever rights issue by a company with a primary listing on ADX.
ADCB acted as sole lead manager, sole bookrunner, and sole receiving bank, demonstrating the bank's deep equity capital markets expertise and ability to execute transactions of scale. In summary, the rights issue was a strategic success on all fronts. It was very well received by the market, it strengthened our capital position, and it enhances our capacity to drive further organic growth and deliver superior returns for our shareholders. Turning to Slide 20, our AI transformation program, launched in October, is building strong momentum with a growing number of high-impact use cases now deployed across the bank. The rollout of AI tools is broad-based, enhancing both the pace and quality of our operations, from accelerating credit processes to empowering decision-making across the organization. One notable milestone has been the integration of AI into our software development process, enabling faster enhancements to our mobile app and delivering significant gains in productivity....
We continue to introduce high-value use cases across the bank, each aimed at improving efficiency, better risk management, and a more scalable operating model. As adoption deepens, AI will play an increasingly central role in driving sustainable performance and strengthening our competitive advantage. Turning to sustainability initiatives on slide 22, ADCB made strong progress in 2025, further cementing our position as the number one ranked bank in the UAE by major international ESG ratings. We achieved upgrades across Bloomberg, FTSE Russell, and S&P Global, reflecting improvements in governance, transparency, and sustainable finance practices. During the year, we introduced key policy statements in human rights and responsible marketing, and launched our sustainability product framework, aligned with international standards to guide the expansion of sustainable products and financing. Looking ahead, we remain focused on deepening sustainability integration, supporting client transition efforts, and maintaining strong governance and disclosures.
Turning to the macro environment on slide 24, the UAE continues to offer a highly supported backdrop with solid momentum across major economic sectors. In 2025, the non-oil economy delivered strong growth, with the PMI remaining in expansionary territory, supported by robust consumer demand and continued government investment. System-wide liquidity also remains strong, with deposits outpacing credit growth and contributing to favorable funding conditions across the banking sector. Looking ahead, we remain positive on the operating environment. While global uncertainties persist, the UAE's strong fundamentals, fiscal strength, and supportive policy landscape position the country well for continued growth. This backdrop provides a solid foundation for ADCB to sustain business momentum into 2026. Let me conclude on slide 25. 2025 marked a powerful start to ADCB's 5-year strategy, with the bank delivering against all full-year and medium-term guidance metrics.
Our performance reflects disciplined execution and the strength of our franchise. As we look ahead, our priorities are clear: to drive disciplined growth across our core businesses, accelerate the deployment of next-generation digital and AI capabilities, and maintain proven capital and risk management that supports sustainable expansion. With strong fundamentals and clear strategic momentum, we remain confident in our ability to deliver returns consistently above 15% and to advance toward our ambition of achieving AED 20 billion in net profit by 2030. Looking ahead to 2026, the bank expects to continue this strong momentum, fully aligned with the guidance metrics we have outlined for the year. Thank you for your time and continued interest in ADCB. We will now open the floor to your questions.
Yeah, thank you, Deepak. Thank you for the presentation. We'll now move to the Q&A session. We'll ask to limit the number of questions to two. Right, and the first question will come from the line of Naresh Bilandani. Naresh, please announce yourself and ask your question.
Hi
Yes. Yes.
Thank you so much. Hi, Naresh Bilandani from Jefferies. Thank you so much for the presentation. Just a few quick questions, please. One is on the, as you would have assumed, it's on the write-off. There seems to be a sizable write-off of AED 4.4 billion in the fourth quarter, but we are not seeing the same reflect in Stage 3, which kind of indicates that we have had increase in the gross Stage 3 loans over the quarter. Could you please just correct me if my read here is right, and if you can please just offer me more color on where did this increase come from? That's the first question. And the second question. Okay, I have a bunch.
Okay, I think, the extent to which the international loan book can grow, from the current, 27% mix, in the context of the slowdown that we have, we are seeing in Saudi and the increased geopolitical risk. Do you see opportunities for growth in outside Saudi? And if you can please also clarify what portion of this growth is coming from Saudi Arabia specifically. So just your, direction on growth in the international loan book. Yeah, that would be my two questions, please. Thank you.
Sure. Thank you, Naresh. Yes, we've had some write-offs in quarter four of this year, and you would see that in the movement schedule in the notes to financial statements. We've also, as would typically happen, have movements across Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 3. So we've had certain loans move from Stage 2 to Stage 3, back, moving back from Stage 3 to Stage 2, so there have been a number of movements. And whenever we feel that we have no further scope for recovery on a client or clients, we will write off those loans. And therefore, as in previous years as well, there have been write-offs this year. So the movements across the stages are what we expect coming through year on year. And to your second question, in terms of international book-...
growth, yes, we do have loans in Saudi, Egypt, and Kazakhstan, and some loans in Europe as well. We're mindful of the broader geopolitical context, globally and regionally. We take a very rigorous approach to applying our risk models and processes in all business decisions, including lending. There's no change in our strategy to supporting corporates operating across key regional corridors, and this business has continued to grow consistently over the last year. So we do see opportunities even outside of Saudi, and we'll continue to pursue those.
Deepak, thank you very much. Sorry, could you please just, you know, elaborate more on the write-offs here, and the emergence of stage growth in the Stage 3? Because we've had, like, AED 4.4 billion of a write-off in this quarter, but we are seeing the Stage 3 loans decline by just AED 250 million, while Stage 2 has increased by about AED 1.6 billion in a quarter. So clearly, I mean, if I do some back calculation, I think that's a sizable, sort of an increase that we would have potentially seen in the Stage 3 loans. Is my read correct, or is there something that I'm missing here? If that is right, could you please just elaborate more on where this is actually coming from?
As I explained, Naresh, earlier, we have seen loans when they move into Stage 3, and we feel there is no further scope for recovery, we will write off, and we have written off loans, which is evident from the movement schedule. And as I mentioned earlier, we've also seen movements between 3 and 2, 2 and 3, so there have been a number of movements across the stages. And the write-off is, you know, a number of large corporate accounts. We've been also building up some provision over the quarters, and as we see no further scope for recovery on those accounts, we write them off. But I'm happy to take further questions after this call as well, if you need further color on that.
Sure. Okay, thank you.
Thank you, Naresh. Our next question comes from the line of Olga Veselova. Olga, please announce yourself and ask your question.
Thank you. Thank you very much. It is, Olga Veselova from Bank of America. I have a lot, I will ask a couple. One is, on your ROE guidance for this year. I see that, in the presentation, you reiterate guidance about 15%. In the press release, you say around, circa 15%. But my question is, so first, what's exact guidance? And, also, how do you arrive to the same ROE guidance or target as you did guide before doing the rights issue, before you increased equity?
So that's question number one. And my second question is on lending expansion. Correct me if I'm wrong, I thought, I think there was a decline in lending in the UAE quarter-over-quarter. Did you see any migration of customers, so maybe GRE customers, to competitors by the end of the year? And what would be your loan growth outlook for 2026? Thank you.
Okay. So in terms of guidance, ROE guidance, it is greater than 15%. We've clocked 15.3% this year. We expect that momentum to continue. And despite the increase in the share capital or the rights issue, that rights issue bolsters our capital strength, and gives us the opportunity to lend, and positions us very well for 2026 to increase our lending. So we expect the lending momentum, as we've seen over the last three years, to continue. Consistently for three years, we've grown 16% or above, and that momentum, you know, continues. Sorry, what was the third question on expansion? If you could kindly repeat that.
Lending in the UAE, decline
Yeah.
quarter-over-quarter, and guidance for this year.
Yeah. Lending in the UAE, also partially by the write-off, so you'll see that coming through. But we're well positioned in terms of commitments to extend credit to both UAE-based corporates, GREs, and in terms of timing, you know, we're looking at Q1, Q2. So some of those will get drawn down in the coming quarters. So the demand in the UAE is robust. The economy is firing on all cylinders, so we feel confident that the growth in the UAE will continue.
Can you give us a range of guidance estimates, direction for this year?
I think our guidance is very clear in terms of the 3 or 4 major elements we've given, whether it is ROE guidance, capital guidance, and on loan growth. I mentioned we've grown consistently over the last 3 years, above 16%, and that momentum continues, and we expect that to continue in 2026. But we don't break out guidance by sector growth or by domestic and overseas growth. It depends on the timing of some of these drawdowns, but the momentum is strong, and we expect that to continue.
Okay. So for this year, also above 16%. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Olga. The next question comes from the line of Jon Peace. John, please announce yourself.
Hi. Jon Peace from UBS. First question, please, is on the net interest margin, and in particular, I guess, the risk-adjusted net interest margin, and where do you see it trending in 2026? Should we still expect the risk-adjusted margin to be around 190 basis points? And then the second question, please, is on the dividend. I think the dividend was probably a little bit better than consensus expectations, and if I calculated correctly on the new share count, it was right around the AED 5 billion mark. I know you target both a progressive dividend and a AED 25 billion payout, but if you're already at the AED 5 billion annual level, does that mean you can probably exceed the AED 25 billion target? Or does it mean future increases in dividend will be quite minimal? Thank you.
Thank you, John. In terms of the risk-adjusted NIM, yes, we run the bank to this metric. And in 2024, our risk-adjusted NIM was 2.03. We've kind of held onto that at 1.9, despite taking some additional provisioning in quarter two and quarter three. We do not expect similar levels of provisioning as we took in Q2 and Q3 of this year into next year. So hopefully, the risk-adjusted NIM should be better than where we landed, and I believe we expect two rate cuts next year. Monica?
Yes, we still are expecting two rate cuts, but we're expecting them later in the year. So we now see the first rate cut in July and the second in October.
And maybe to follow up on this, as you are aware, the bank is exposed to interest rates, interest rate risk. Our exposure for a 25 basis point rate cut got slightly up quarter-over-quarter, sort of stable throughout the year, year-over-year. And the main reasons for it going up quarter-over-quarter is threefold. There's, of course, the balance sheet growth. All things being equal, this sensitivity will go up. Then, of course, we had the rights issue, whereby we issued AED 6.1 billion of equity, which is not rate sensitive, which is then being invested in items that are rate sensitive. And we also had a change in methodology and system, that also had a slightly upward effect. I think, going forward, we expect this number to be stable around the number we published in there today.
In terms of dividend, yes, our dividend per share growth over 2024 is about 7%. So where we've declared, we still maintain our guidance of AED 25 billion over the next 5 years in absolute payout. And the dividend policy likely to be progressive or is progressive to arrive at that AED 25 billion. Future years' dividends obviously will be decided as we come into those years, but there's no further change to the guidance on dividend.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Rahul Bajaj. Rahul, please announce yourself. Rahul, I believe you're on mute.
Hi. Am I audible now?
Yes.
Cool. Yeah. Hi, this is Rahul Bajaj from Citi. Two quick questions from my side, actually. Firstly, on Saudi loan growth, which has been a major engine for your growth in the last several quarters, years actually, are you seeing any slowdown with all these kind of noise around project cuts, rationalization? Are you seeing any impact of loan momentum slowing down in Saudi into your pipeline? Any comments on that would be useful. And my second question is on the tax. The tax bit, how will the treatment be done in 2026? Will it be 9 or 15? And if it will be 9, will you continue to accrue at 15 and do a reversal like last year in Q2, or will you start with 9 directly? How will it work? Thank you.
So, like I mentioned earlier, no change in our strategy to supporting our corporates in the regional corridors that we operate in. Our Saudi exposure is primarily GRE-related, and we don't see any sort of pullback in that. Mostly in the energy sector, over 70-odd% is funded through multi-bank facilities, and so yeah, that will continue. In terms of tax, as I've mentioned on previous calls, the applicability of 9%-15% is to be determined on an annual basis. We qualified in 2025. We will obviously aim to keep that qualification going into 2026 as well. You know, hopefully, there shouldn't be any changes, but we will accrue at the 9%, and as things progress during the year, if there is a change required, then we will make that change. But, the aim is to maintain the 9% benefit that we have.
Got it. Thank you. Thanks, people.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mehmet Sevim. Mehmet, please announce yourself.
Good afternoon. Thanks very much. Just two remaining questions from me, please. One, on the loan yields, the 25 basis point decline that you show this quarter, is this entirely related to the rate cuts? Given it looks a bit too high to me, given the timing effect, et cetera, or is there any impact of a mix shift in the loan book towards international? And, secondly, just are you able to clarify whether the provision releases this quarter were related to the files you took provisions for in the second quarter and the third quarter? Thank you.
Yeah, so as I've already explained, we see stage movements, we see where we need to take additional provisions, and we would do. And in terms of recoveries and reversals, when we see an improvement in asset quality, we would do that as well. And you can see that in quarter four results in the movement schedule, as well. So, there aren't any sort of releases for the loans or the provisions that we took in Q2 and Q3. These are different accounts, and that is a normal course of business.
So that's one. I think on the loan yields, yes, we've seen a decline in quarter four, as we see the full year impact of some of the rate cuts coming through. But we've also maintained our NIM. We haven't seen a steep decline in NIM. So our cost of funds have come down also. We've seen quarter three, our NIM was 2.45, and it's only, it's 2.39 in quarter four. So we expect NIM to be kind of stable going into the next couple of quarters.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Kunpeng Ma. Please announce yourself and ask your question.
Hi. Thank you. Thank you for taking my question. This is Kunpeng with China Securities. I have a question on the loan mix, especially the corporate loan mix. I assume the government sector and the infrastructure loans are the current major parts of the current corporate loan book. Are we gonna see the lending mix gradually shift towards some new industries, like AI, like new energy, et cetera, as UAE and Saudi are actively bringing in those kind of new industries? So within the next five years framework, are we gonna see a gradual shift of the loan mix? Are we gonna see some kind of differences in terms of the loan price and the risk profile, if the loan mix is gonna gradually change? Thank you.
Thank you very much for the question. The answer is yes, we are seeing increasing diversification of our lending to both corporates and GREs. A lot of the GREs are also or the lending to these GREs are across various sectors, whether these are in renewable energy, pure energy, data centers, build-out of AI, et cetera. That is already happening, and we expect that to continue as we go forward. Pricing, obviously, is risk-based pricing, so for, you know, a lower risk, your pricing would be lower.
But again, as I mentioned, we run the bank to risk-adjusted NIM. If the cost of risk comes down and risk-adjusted NIM goes up, you know, everybody's pleased with that outcome. Shareholders are better off from that. But yes, the answer to your question is, yes, we will see increased diversification across the lending portfolio in various industries, and we've seen that come through already in the last few quarters.
Thank you. Thank you very, very much.
Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Murad Ansari. Murad, please announce yourself and ask your question. Murad, we can't hear you. I can see your line is unmuted, but we can't hear you. I think while we wait for Murad to sort out his line, may I ask two questions, you know, as part of the Q&A session? I think the first question would be, could you please elaborate on the quality of your securities and derivatives gains? Do these represent some sort of structural hedges to your NII? How should we understand it, right? I think this line is quite fundamental to your long-term target to double net income over a five-year horizon. But that's one question.
I think if you can also comment how qualitatively different is this revenue stream compared to First Abu Dhabi Bank, right? Which reports similarly strong securities and derivatives gains in its P&L. And secondly, we've seen a few reports about the significant risk transfer transactions related to your international loan portfolio. Can you comment what this means to your long-term cost of risk? And what does it mean for your overall costs? How much does these SRTs cost you, and what's the cost accounting? I presume you amortize it, but is it gonna be booked in fees or operating costs? You know, if you give some color on this, that'll be great. Thank you.
Maybe let me start off with the trading income, because I think that was partly where your first question was related to. As you are aware, we are constantly investing in our business. We are offering more and more products to our clients. We have new clients onboarding. And let me give you an example as to the products we're offering at this point in time. Actually, they do have X, it's derivatives, it's in commodities, equities. We dipped our toes into crypto and emerging markets as well. So what we're seeing here is that the flow business that we're generating out of these offerings are increasing, as well as there are some proprietary positioning in that as well.
So that, I think, worked well during 2025, and we will continue on this path going forward. Then you made another remark around the structural hedge. I mean, the structural hedge that we have to manage our equity position, that's mostly accounted for on an accrual basis, on a hedge accounted basis, so that will not impact our market-to-market gains or losses.
Can you just elaborate what share of this securities and derivative gains is driven by the flow business from your customers? Is it, you know, 50%? Is it more than that?
I think at this point in time, it's more than 50/50%. And I think, over time, that's also an equation where we would be satisfied with. But at this point in time, for 2025, it was roughly in that area.
Thank you. And the second question was around the significant risk transfer transactions on your international loan portfolio.
No, there haven't been any. We haven't done anything on SRT, so there's nothing to comment on that.
All right. Thank you. We'll try the line of Murad Ansari one more time. Murad, please, unmute your line and ask your question.
Yes, hi. Thanks for the presentation, and congratulations on a good set of results. Just one question around the loan book mix that's come through over the year, this year. So if I look at the retail book, both on mortgages and non-mortgage book, you know, your growth over the last years, that's 2024, has been ... Both numbers have been relatively flat over the last year. So just wanted to get your thoughts around the retail business. You know, how do you see that evolving into next year? And if you could just give some overview of this year's flattish kind of growth on net numbers, obviously.
And secondly, again, on the split, the government/public sector number has dropped by about AED 5 billion, or AED 4.5 billion on a sequential basis. You know, is there a bit more competition that's building up over here? Are these, you know, maturities that came in this quarter, and you would expect those to build up? And just on that, I mean, my understanding, based on previous calls also, was that, you know, a lot of your lending in Saudi is to GRE. So when we look at segment data, your Saudi lending would be reflecting in this segment, in the public sector and government segment? Thank you.
Yeah. So let me take these questions in sequence. Yes, the retail book was fairly stable this year in terms of assets and asset growth. But it had a very strong performance on the liability side and generating significant CASA growth for the bank overall. So that was a very successful sort of performance by the retail bank. Going into 2026, yes, we do expect, you know, loan growth to be in the retail, coming through both secured lending and unsecured lending. And if you look a year prior to that, in 2024, retail lending grew quite significantly. So we expect that momentum to come back in 2026 on the loan growth side. On the segment mix, government, public sector, you're right.
A significant portion of our new lending is to the government and public sector projects, both within the UAE and outside of the UAE. So, you know, if, if it, these are purely government, you will see them in that sector, but if these are commercial entities, then, we will classify them within those, industry sectors. So but again, the growth there is strong quarter-on-quarter. If you see some variation, I don't think you should draw a trend line to that. But overall, on an annualized basis, on an annual basis, we expect that to continue to grow.
Thank you. And if I could just add one follow-up on loan growth. I mean, so Saudi, a lot of it is project/GRE-based lending. I mean, I'm not looking for exact guidance, but on the corporate side, I mean, where are the, you know, big pockets of growth that you're seeing in UAE?
So in the UAE, we're seeing a lot of growth, again, coming through government and GRE-related projects across the energy sector, manufacturing, data centers, renewable energy, so across various sectors. So, we're seeing that come through. On real estate, we've got a much lower exposure. It's probably now 11%-12% of the total loan book. But the government GRE sector continues to grow strong. In the energy sector, we've seen increases in the energy sector, both renewable and others. So that's another area of growth.
Great, thank you. You know, on the real estate, are you comfortable with the exposure that you have right now, or should we continue to see this trending down, you're, you know, trimming some exposure here into 2026 as well?
No, I think we are well-placed. In fact, you know, at 11-12%, I think we have scope to grow into that sector as well. So, you know, 12% corporate or commercial real estate, 4%-5% are mortgages, so yeah, that 15%-16%, and I think there's scope to, you know, add some exposure. We don't think that we're gonna trim that further down.
All right. Thank you so much, and all the best for 2026.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, everyone. At this point, we are wrapping up this conference call. If there are any further unaddressed questions that couldn't be addressed, please feel free to raise them to the investor relations team. So I'd like to thank everyone for their participation. Harsh, over to you for any closing remarks.
I'd just like to say thank you to participants on the call, and appreciate your questions. I'm aware that there may be some questions that people did not have the opportunity to ask, given the time constraints. Please feel free to write into our investor relations team, to Harsh and Ali here, and we'll be very happy to come back to you fairly quickly on with answers to your questions. Thank you very much, and have a great day ahead.