Commercial Bank International (CBI), QNB’s associate in the UAE, reduced its headcount by c.18% and reduced the number of branches to 17 from 27 in 2017, as part of the bank’s restructuring process that took place last year, according to the bank’s CEO Mark Robinson. He added that the reorganization will continue in 2018, with a small number of branches closing this year while other branches will be relocated. He also added that there will be a meaningful reduction in the bank’s costs in 2018, compared to 2017, resulting from significant one-off costs in 2017, as the bank spent USD20mn in 2017 on upgrading its core technology platform. CBI has reported a net income of AED175mn in FY2017, up 40% Y-o-Y. Management expects loan growth of 5% in 2018 for the bank and the industry and aims to reduce the NPL ratio to between 5-6% this year. With respect to shareholder QNB, the CEO said it is “business as usual”.