SHARJAH, 2 February 2005 — Private sector establishments which fail to meet the employment quotas set for UAE nationals will be blacklisted by the Ministry of Labor, which is already drawing up a list of erratic firms, according to senior officials. It is the latest move undertaken by Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ali Abdullah Al-Kaabi, who took office in a Cabinet reshuffle carried out in November and has launched an intense process of streamlining the UAE labor market.
Kaabi issued decisions enforcing the employment quota system in the commercial, insurance and banking sectors. Under the decisions, trading companies which employ 50 or more people must have UAE nationals constituting a minimum of two percent of the workforce. Insurance and banking firms should have UAE nationals representing a minimum of five percent and four percent, respectively, of their work force.
All private sector firms have been asked to provide all information and data related to their workforce to the National Human Resources and Employment Authority (Tanmia) in January and July every year. Abdulrahman Al Awar, director of Tanmia, said in comments published in the local press yesterday that the ministry will soon blacklist companies for not meeting the job quotas set for UAE nationals. He said a list of violators was being drawn up.
Awar said Monday’s decisions issued by Kaabi authorize Tanmia to demand information, measure compliance and to report to the ministry in order to take proper action against companies which do not comply with the quota. “These actions are stated clearly and stipulate the Ministry of Labor and social affairs will suspend and stop the issue and renewal of permits of companies that do not have a set percentage of national employees,” he said.
Top of the list of targeted establishments are insurance companies. Awar said a list of insurance companies which have violated the regulations will be submitted to the Ministry of Labor on Feb. 5 for action against them. “Insurance companies have hardly complied and we will begin with them first. Subsequently the other sectors will follow. Any company that refuses to submit any information requested by Tanmia will also be penalized,” he said.
Meanwhile, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi has become the first UAE bank to post a net profit of more than one billion dirhams and raise the worth of assets to more than 50 billion dirhams. The bank’s net profit of 1.14 billion dirhams for fiscal 2004 represents a 41 percent increase over the previous year. The profit represents a return of 25.7 percent on capital, one of the highest in the Gulf.
Revenues rose 37 percent to 1.7 billion dirhams while costs rose 18 percent to 488 million dirhams. The cost-income ratio dipped to 28 percent in 2004 from 33 percent in 2003. Total assets grew to 56.3 billion dinars, posting a 29 percent increase over 2003. Deposits rose by 23 percent to 38.7 billion dirhams and capital resources went up to 5.18 billion dirhams in 2004 compared with 2.82 billion dirhams in 1999.
The bank earned 311 million in 1991 and at that time it had set the net profit of target of one billion dirhams in five years, said Michael Tomalin, the bank’s chief executive domestic banking operating profits jumped 27 percent to 590 million dirhams and international profits were up 12 percent to 257 million dirhams. Investment banking profits rose by 149 percent, reflecting the booming local financial market. Earnings per share (EPS) went up to 12.08 dirhams from 8.55 dirhams in 2003.