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Abu Dhabi: UAE bankers said on Monday they haven't planned any job cuts to face up to the challenges posed by the global economic downturn and credit crunch that has embroiled some of the world's major banks and wiped trillions of dollars from the global financial system.
"We haven't made any layoffs and there are no immediate plans to do that," Emirates NBD Group Chief Financial Officer Sanjay Uppal told Gulf News.
"Going forward, our hiring will be commensurate with the opportunities in the market and our requirements," he added.
Uppal said Emirates NBD's core wholesale and consumer-banking businesses were still meeting expectations.
Emirates NBD is the largest bank in the Middle East by assets.
A spokesman for National Bank of Abu Dhabi said there were "no job cuts planned and no freeze on hiring."
Senior bankers at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Union National Bank also denied that their banks had plans to lay off staff in the near term.
"On the contrary, we are recruiting new people to our team," said one ADIB executive.
However, another banker, who wished to remain anonymous, cautioned that there would be repercussions for the UAE if the world economy didn't pick up steam in the near future
"We do not operate in isolation. If businesses are struggling the world over, we are bound to be affected," he said.
The global financial crisis has so far this year led to the loss of thousands of jobs in the banking industry. International financial conglomerate Citigroup Inc has been severely affected, announcing earlier this month that it would cut 52,000 jobs.
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