Dubai Islamic Bank closes debut $750m syndicated Islamic facility on $1.2bn of demand

Dubai Islamic Bank has completed its first syndicated Islamic financing as a borrower: a $750 million three-year senior unsecured Commodity Murabaha term facility that drew about $1.2 billion in commitments, roughly 1.6 times the final size.

The orders came from regional and international lenders. HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, Mizuho Bank and Standard Chartered were initial mandated lead arrangers, bookrunners and coordinators on the transaction. DIB is the largest Islamic bank in the UAE and describes itself as the world's leading Islamic financial group.

Group chief executive Dr. Adnan Chilwan called the completion an important step in the bank's funding strategy. He said the scale and quality of demand stood out against a difficult market backdrop and regional geopolitical uncertainty, and that the facility broadens the funding base while deepening relationships with international banking partners.

The deal gives DIB a third institutional channel alongside its sukuk programme and customer deposits. It is senior unsecured bank financing, distinct from the regulatory capital the bank raises from sukuk investors.

That sukuk programme has been active. In early 2026 the bank priced a $1 billion Additional Tier 1 perpetual non-call six-year sukuk at a 6.25 percent profit rate, with an order book above $2.3 billion, or 2.3 times the issue. More than 85 institutional accounts from Europe, Asia and the Middle East subscribed. MENA investors were allocated 83 percent, with 17 percent going to the UK, Europe and other international markets; banks and private banks took 77 percent and fund managers 21 percent.

On sustainable funding, DIB issued its first sustainability-linked financing sukuk in November 2025, a $1 billion five-year deal at a 4.572 percent annual profit rate, with demand more than twice the final size. Three sustainable sukuk sold between 2022 and 2024 raised AED10.1 billion, and the proceeds had been fully allocated to eligible projects by September 2025. The sustainability-linked format ties financing for corporate clients to measurable performance targets and key indicators rather than a defined green asset portfolio.

First-half 2026 results show the balance sheet the funding supports. Net financing assets rose 7 percent from the start of the year to AED281 billion, with AED43 billion of new gross financing written across consumer and wholesale banking. Total assets reached AED423 billion, up 2 percent, and customer deposits AED327 billion. Gross revenue was AED12.4 billion, up 10 percent year on year, operating profit rose 6 percent to AED4.8 billion and pre-tax profit reached AED4.3 billion. The non-performing financing ratio fell to 2.4 percent and cost of risk was 28 basis points. The common equity Tier 1 ratio stood at 13 percent, the total capital adequacy ratio at 16.1 percent, the liquidity coverage ratio at 140 percent and the net stable funding ratio at 105 percent.

DIB has also been a lender in syndication. In August 2026 it joined a $1.85 billion dual-tranche facility for Olam Agri as senior mandated lead arranger and investment agent for the $250 million Islamic tranche, a three-year arrangement for general corporate purposes. It separately closed Turkish Airlines' first Islamic aircraft financing, funding an Airbus A350-941 through a 12-year Ijarah lease.

The wider market has been expanding. Assets of UAE Islamic banks, Islamic finance companies and the Islamic windows of conventional banks reached AED1.26 trillion at the end of September 2025, against AED1.09 trillion at the end of 2024 and AED956.02 billion in 2023, per Central Bank of the UAE data. DIB's own balance sheet was AED416 billion at the end of 2025, up 21 percent over the year, before reaching AED423 billion six months later.