UNB’s fourth-quarter profit in the three months ending Dec 31 dropped 25.6 percent, Reuters calculated, to 170 million dirhams ($46.3 million), from 228.5 million dirhams in the prior-year period.

For the full year, the company posted a profit of 1.35 billion dirhams, compared with 1.16 billion dirhams in 2009.

Chief Executive Mohammad Nasr Abdeen said the bank had continued to grow in a “measured manner in 2010,” in a statement to the bourse.

Impairments stood at 482.4 million dirhams at the end of the year, up 67 percent over the previous year, financial statements showed. UNB did not provide figures for the fourth-quarter.

Loans grew 11.4 percent to 56.6 billion dirhams in 2010, while deposits rose 13 percent to 57.9 billion dirhams.

Operating income went up 20 percent to 2.6 billion dirhams in 2010 driven by an increase in interest and non-interest income, the statement said.