The aggregate net profit of 18 listed banks on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Dubai Financial Market surged to Dh19 billion ($5.17 billion) during H1 2017, a 5.5 per cent growth from Dh18 billion in the corresponding period last year.

The growth comes in unison with the UAE Banks Federation's forecasts yesterday purporting that the banking sector will secure a 5 per cent profit growth during the H2, reported Wam, the Emirates official news agency.

In the meantime, profits of six banks listed at the DFM amounted to Dh7.83 billion during H1, a growth of 7.5 per cent over the same period last year when the net profit stood at Dh7.28 billion.

At ADX, net profits of 12 banks reached to Dh11.25 billion during the first six months of the year, up 2.7 per cent from Dh10.8 billion in the same period last year.

Emirates Islamic Bank came on top with a staggering 182 per cent increase in profit from Dh137 million to around Dh387 million followed by the Dubai Islamic Bank whose net profit rose 14 per cent from Dh1.8 billion to Dh2.00 billion, then came Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank with the same growth percentage from Dh988 million to Dh1.13 billion.

With regards to the most profitable banks in terms of value, First Abu Dhabi Bank came second to none with total profits valued at around Dh5.49 billion by the end of the first half of 2017 followed by Emirates NBD with Dh3.9 billion then ADCB with Dh2.11 billion.