New chairman named for Commercial Bank of Dubai

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has appointed Saeed Ghobash as chairman of Commercial Bank of Dubai, replacing Ahmed Al Tayer, the Dubai Media Office said on Twitter on Wednesday.It did not give a reason for the change. The move follows a decision last month to replace Al Tayer as governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) with Abdullah Mohammed Saleh. Separately on Wednesday, Sheikh Mohammed also appointed Abdul Aziz Al-Ghurair as vice chairman of the Dubai International Financial Centre, reported state news agency WAM. Other members of the board were named as Hussain Al Qemzi, Abdulfattah Sharaf, Essa Kazim, Abdullah Saeed Ghobash and David Eldon. In late June, Dubai's ruler named his uncle and close adviser Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum as chairman of Emirates NBD, the UAE's largest bank by assets, also replacing Al Tayer.Commercial Bank of Dubai last month announced that net profit after provisions for non-performing loans rose by two percent to AED523m ($142m) in the first half of 2011 compared to the same period last year.Total assets reached AED38.1bn as at the end of June, reflecting a 3.2 percent growth over the end of June 2010.Loans and advances reduced slightly to AED26.1bn while customers' deposits marginally increased by 0.25 percent to AED28.1bn.The bank said in a statement that it continues to proactively manage credit quality and impaired loans, with the impairment charge for the first half of 2011 dropping by 14 percent to AED153m. From / Arabian Business News