The Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) has inked an agreement in order to get hold of the Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) retail banking business in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The acquisition deal, which was signed on Wednesday, is subject to approval by UAE Central Bank.

This would become the first acquisition of an international banking institution's retail banking franchise in the UAE by a local bank.

The acquirement would offer up great opportunities for the bank, doubling ADCB's credit card business and considerably meliorating its market share to turn into one of the top three credit card players in the country.

As on March 31, 2010, ADCB owned 49 divisions, 175 ATMs and more than 340,000 retail clients. The acquisition would further enhance ADCB's franchise by leveraging RBS's established local retail banking presence with an addition of over 250,000 customers and 51 ATMs.

Mr. Arup Mukhopadhyay, head of consumer banking at ADCB, stated, "The RBS retail business in the UAE is an ideal strategic fit for the consumer banking business of ADCB. This acquisition adds significantly to the two strategic growth engines of ADCB's consumer banking franchise - credit cards and wealth management business - and the combined entity provides a perfect platform for building a consumer banking powerhouse in the UAE." (With Inputs from Agencies)