Emirates Islamic aims to complete rights issue by early December

Emirates Islamic (EI) plans to complete a Dh1.5 billion ($408 million) fund-raising from existing shareholders by early December. Chief executive Jamal Bin Ghalaita said EI was not expecting a pick up in the banking market until the second half of 2017 at the earliest, once an upswing in oil prices happens. EI announced plans for the rights issue on Thursday, saying it would increase its paid up share capital to Dh5.43 billion from Dh3.93 billion. EI, which has recorded falling net profits for the past three quarters, is due to report third-quarter results later this month. Bin Ghalaita said the outlook remained uncertain. He added that EI planned no further job losses after some cuts mainly within the department servicing small and medium-sized enterprises.