Barclays sells United Arab Emirates banking unit to Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

Barclays has decided to sell its retail banking arm in the United Arab Emirates to Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB).

ADIB is paying $177 million for the business which has 110,000 customers. Most of those are expatriate workers.

Customers who move to ADIB will have to switch to finance schemes that are compliant with Islamic rules, which do not allow interest payments.

Barclays says the deal will allow it to focus on its corporate and investment banking operations in the region.

In February, Barclays Chief Executive Antony Jenkins announced the result of a strategic review, which looked at the company’s 75 business units.

As a result Barclays has been focusing on markets where it believes it has scale and a competitive advantage.

In particular, Barclays is concentrating its investment on the UK, US and Africa.

The review also resulted in thousands of job cuts.

ADIB is the biggest bank in UAE with 600,000 customers.