Abu Dhabi's Union National Bank missed analysts' forecasts yesterday, reporting a 14.7 percent drop in third- quarter profit due to lower interest income and higher loan impairments.

The lender, jointly owned by the governments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, said it had a net profit of 450.26 million dirhams ($122.7 million) in the third quarter to Sept. 30, down from 528.24 million dirhams in the prior-year period.

Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast on average a profit of 502.42 million dirhams.

Net profit for the first nine months of this year fell to 1.44 billion dirhams from 1.47 billion dirhams in the prior-year period.

Impairment losses on financial assets during the quarter were 137.8 million dirhams versus 86 million dirhams a year ago.

Loans and advances grew to 60.6 billion dirhams at end-September, up 7.7 percent year-on-year, while customer deposits totalled 64.3 billion dirhams, up 16.3 percent. – Reuters