• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

UPDATE 1-National Bank Oman hires Dubai Bank chief as CEO

Wed Jan 27, 2010 1:08pm IST

(Adds comment from CEO, analyst and background)

* Dubai Bank's Al Shaksy to replace Sims at NBO

* Al Shaksy Omani national is former Bank Dhofar executive

By Nicolas Parasie

DUBAI, Jan 27 (Reuters) - National Bank of Oman NBO.OM

(NBO) said on Wednesday it named Salam Al Shaksy of Dubai Bank as its new chief executive, as the sultanate's third-largest lender seeks to bolster its international profile.

Al Shaksy will replace Murray Sims, whose contract expired, at the helm of NBO, the bank said in statement.

No replacement for Al Shaksy at Dubai Bank has been announced. Dubai Bank was not available to comment.

"I'm basically going home ... NBO was very persistent and they made me a convincing offer," Al Shaksy told Reuters in a phone interview.

"NBO used to be the number one bank in the country, maybe this is the chance to reclaim the past glory," he said.

Omani banks in recent years have grown rapidly on the back of a regional oil-driven boom, but growth slowed as a result of the global credit crunch.

NBO has branches in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Around 35 percent of the bank is owned by Commercial Bank of Qatar COMB.QA.

"We are going to go in and see what the opportunities are and where we can capitalise," Al Shaksy said.

"NBO is a solid franchise, a solid brand, it has branches in Egypt and the UAE, it is well positioned to grow, the issue is to find what it takes to build on that," he said.

The Omani national, who has a degree in management and economics from Boston University, is the former deputy chief executive at Bank Dhofar BDOF.OM, the country's second-largest bank by market value.

"Salam has got the right attitude to do this work, this is a positive move to have an Omani chief executive for the bank, he's very much respected in Omani business and banking circles," said Sayed Quadry, vice-president of business development at Amwal Investment in Muscat.

Earlier in January, NBO reported a 38-percent drop in fourth-quarter net profit as loan activity and deposits slowed. [nLDE60G051]

"NBO suffered from the global recession but doesn't have any weaknesses, I think his role is to give the bank a more international image," Quadry said.

NBO shares were up 0.3 percent at 0732 GMT.

(Additional reporting and editing by John Irish)

((nicolas.parasie@thomsonreuters.com; +971 4 391 8301; Reuters Messaging: nicolas.parasie.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: NBO CEO

(C) Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofReuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expresslyprohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuterssphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group ofcompanies around the world.nLDE60Q0BX

Comments (0)
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.