Abu Dhabi, Jun 17 (IANS/WAM): The Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) has signed a deal to acquire the Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) retail banking business in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The agreement was signed Wednesday and the acquisition is subject to approval by UAE Central Bank.

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

The acquisition would provide tremendous opportunities for the bank, doubling ADCB's credit card business and significantly improving its market share to become one of the top three credit card players in the country.

As on March 31, ADCB had 49 branches, 175 ATMs and over 340,000 retail customers. 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.

Arup Mukhopadhyay, head of consumer banking at ADCB, said: "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."