First Gulf Bank (FGB), the UAE's second largest bank by market capitalisation, has acquired a consumer financial services firm from debt-laden investment firm Dubai Group for 601 million dirhams ($163.6 million), it said on Sunday.

The acqusiition of Dubai First, which specialises in liability and credit card products, helps FGB expand its customer base in the UAE, the lender said in a statement.

The sale is part of Dubai Group's efforts to address its debt as it restructures $10 billion of laibilities with creditors, Fadel al-Ali, the firm's chief executive said in the statement.

A unit of Dubai Holding, the investment arm of Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Dubai Group has a portfolio of mainly financial services assets bought during the boom years of the mid-2000s, but which have plunged in value since the 2008 global financial crisis.-Reuters