The National Bank of Abu Dhabi's (NBAD) Group Chief Executive, Michael H. Tomalin, has won the CEO Lifetime Achievement Award from Banker Middle East.
Mr. Tomalin joined NBAD as the Chief Executive in 1999. In that year the Bank earned AED311 million. Since 1999, under Mr. Tomalin's steady and far-sighted leadership NBAD's net profit has grown each year to reach AED3 billion at the end of 2009, an amazing 10 fold increase in the bottom line. During this 10-year period, NBAD has grown at an average annual growth rate of around 23% year-on-year making it one of the fastest growing and highest performing banks in the wider Middle East region.
NBAD's growth under Mr. Tomalin's leadership was not from acquisitions but from organic growth and entry into a number of new markets and businesses.
During his tenure, NBAD launched its brokerage arm, Abu Dhabi Financial Services (ADFS), ahead of the stock market boom in UAE. ADFS has become one of the largest brokerage firms in the country. Mr. Tomalin also correctly identified lucrative opportunities in Islamic finance and private banking. Under his direction NBAD began offering Islamic banking products and services in 2007. The Bank set up Abu Dhabi National Islamic Finance (ADNIF) as a fully Shariah-compliant unit in 2009.
From around 48 branches in 1999, NBAD achieved a milestone of 100 UAE branches by end 2009.
NBAD is also the UAE's foremost international flag bearer. The Bank has aggressively expanded the NBAD brand globally since his appointment. In 1999, it operated 13 branches outside the UAE. This network has increased steadily and reached almost 50 by early 2010. In the last two years, NBAD began operations in Libya, Hong Kong, and Jordan with a network expanding 12 countries on four continents stretching from Hong Kong in the Far East to Washington, D.C. in North America, and from London in Europe to Khartoum in Africa.
Being a private and wholesale banker himself, Mr. Tomalin was closely involved in the details of establishing the NBAD Private Bank (Suisse) SA in Geneva, and the launch of the UAE private banking arm. He serves as the Chairman of NBAD Private Bank (Suisse) SA.
The fabulous growth NBAD had experienced resulted from the ambitious visions Mr. Tomalin outlined for the Bank. Not long after his appointment, Mr. Tomalin established a robust annual strategic planning process at the level of the senior management team by setting up the strategy committee under his chairmanship. The strategy committee analyses the business environment, formulates the Bank's overall strategy and monitors progress on implementation of the Bank's strategic objectives on a quarterly basis. At the first strategy day in 1999, Mr. Tomalin set a target of achieving a net profit of AED1 billion by 2004, an objective that many doubted could at all be achieved and more so in such a short timeframe. Strong leadership from Mr. Tomalin and his executive team saw the Bank achieve this milestone by 2004 as the first bank in the UAE to achieve such feat and catapulted NBAD to a leading position among UAE banks.
One of his most important decisions was shifting the Bank's source of funding to long-term bonds and issues. Before his tenure, NBAD, as other UAE banks, largely depended on short-term sources as its major vehicle of funding. Under his direction NBAD began to increasingly tap into international markets for long term funding sources such as bond issuance and EMTNs. This move goes in tandem with the Bank's strategy to be the financier of mega projects.
"I am humbled and thankful to the people who nominated me and to Banker Middle East for awarding me this accolade," Mr. Tomalin said. "I have always been driven by my desire to help the institutions that I am associated with. NBAD has been my home for more than 10 years and I hold special affection for it because I admire what is the driving force behind NBAD - more than serving as a for-profit institution, NBAD strives to also be an enabler, an engine of Abu Dhabi's and the UAE's development and growth."
In his pursuit to grow NBAD, Mr. Tomalin has consistently had even this grand objective in mind. "Abu Dhabi is the core DNA of NBAD. One way we measure our success is by the contribution we make to the development of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the wider nation," Mr. Tomalin said.
Under Mr. Tomalin's leadership, NBAD's Emiratisation ratio increased from 14% in 1999 to 36% at the end of 2009. Recently, Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies (EIBFS) awarded Mr. Tomalin its 2009 Best Emiratisation CEO Award in Banking Sector.
Mr. Tomalin has more than 30 years of experience in international wholesale and private banking spanning Europe, the Caribbean, the Far East, Australia, and the Middle East.
