AAbu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC
Two stars: an owner's home jurisdiction under increased monitoring.
Why ADCB has two stars
ADCB earns two stars. What holds the rating down: only a summary of the custody terms is public. Only part of the private banking range is published for this booking unit. In its favour: no final adverse finding against this licence holder in ten years of regulatory and court records. The file does not yet show how the law protects custody assets in this centre and deposit protection for this booking unit. These points carry no weight until they are documented.
Noam Cohen, Editor, Bank IntelligenceReviewed 6 November 2026, Q4 2026 edition. The rating weighs the public record together with what clients and their advisers tell us in confidence; retail products, branches and apps play no part.
Where ADCB stands out
- No final adverse finding against this licence holder in ten years of regulatory and court records.
- Most fees are published.
- Ownership is public, with some detail missing.
- No politically exposed person holds a significant stake.
What to weigh
- Only a summary of the custody terms is public.
- Only part of the private banking range is published for this booking unit.
- No public policy on third-party payments or retrocessions.
- An owner's home jurisdiction is under increased monitoring for money laundering.
- Legal protection of custody assets in this centre is still to be documented here.
- Deposit protection for this booking unit is not confirmed in the documents on file.
The rating expresses the opinion of PPLI.com on the date shown. It is not a statement of fact about the bank, not a credit rating, not a forecast of failure and not investment advice.
Regulatory and legal record
What regulators, prosecutors and courts have decided, recorded against the legal entity they named, with the status, the amounts as published and a link to the original document. Claims and investigations still under way are marked as open.
Client experience and financial standing
What clients meet at ADCB, read from complaint registers, ombudsman decisions and court records, independent reporting and what clients and their advisers tell PPLI.com in confidence. Announcements by the bank, awards and marketing material are left out.
What clients report
In court reporting since 2021 the bank appears as a lender to NMC Health, not as a defendant: it filed a criminal complaint in Abu Dhabi against the NMC founder B.R. Shetty, and it is not a party to his USD 8 billion suit against EY and two other banks. Press coverage reports no data breach or client-money incident at the bank.
Worth raising with the bank
- Ask for the bank's latest Fitch rating report: the most recent Fitch action it publishes dates from March 2024.
Financial standing
| Agency | Rating | Outlook | As of | Rated company |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fitch | A+ / F1 | Stable | January 2025 | Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC |
| S&P | A+ / A-1 | Stable | March 2025 | Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC |
In the press
- Reuters (via Yahoo Finance)
NMC founder sues EY, banks and execs for $8 billion over alleged fraud
NMC Health founder B.R. Shetty sued EY, Bank of Baroda, Credit Europe Bank and former executives for USD 8 billion, while facing a criminal complaint in Abu Dhabi filed by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank as one of NMC's lenders.
What ADCB charges, compared
ADCB publishes its fees. The figures below are its list prices, read on 6 November 2026 from the document linked at the foot of this section. To compare banks fairly we put every published fee in US dollars at the same indicative rates and apply it to the same reference amounts, then rate each fee against the average of the other banks that publish it. Five stars is the lowest fee, one star the highest. Terms a family actually negotiates are often different, and the bank can change its schedule at any time.
| Fee | ADCB | Other banks | Against the others |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custody and safekeepingeffective rate on USD 25 million | 0.21% a year Source | Retail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms | |
| Advisory mandateeffective rate on USD 12.5 million | 1.02% a year1.05% at USD 10m, 0.92% at USD 50m; all-in fee Source | 0.93% a yearaverage of 21 other banks | above the average |
| Third party fund subscriptionfee on a USD 250,000 subscription | 3.15% Source | Retail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms | |
| Minimum annual feeper year, or fee below the asset threshold | USD 0 a yearAED 0 per month Source | USD 4,452 a yearaverage of 38 other banks | among the lowest |
| Outgoing international transferper transfer, standard | USD 0AED 0 Source | USD 58average of 61 other banks | among the lowest |
| Transfer of securities to another bankper position | USD 71AED 262 Source | Retail schedule, shown as published and not compared with private banking terms | |
| Closing the accountone off | USD 27AED 100 Source | USD 744average of 21 other banks | among the lowest |
Not in the published schedule: discretionary mandate, equity trade, bond trade, currency conversion, account maintenance, lombard loan margin.
Sources.
- Schedule of Fees, Advisory Services, ADCB PJSC (ADGM Branch), Ver. 01 / January 2026, read on 6 November 2026
- ADCB Private Schedule of Fees, Ver. 02, December 2017, effective 1st January 2018, read on 6 November 2026
- Wealth Services Schedule of Fees for UAE Residents, Effective 1st January, 2018, read on 6 November 2026. Onshore wealth services (not labelled private banking) investment fee schedule; fees inclusive of 5% VAT; dated 2018 and may be superseded.
How the comparison works: USD 25 million booked with the bank: half under a discretionary balanced mandate, half in custody with advice; 24 equity trades of USD 250,000 and 8 bond trades of USD 500,000 a year; 6 currency conversions of USD 1 million; 24 outgoing international transfers. Tiered fees are applied to those amounts tranche by tranche, stated minimums are applied, and amounts are converted at indicative rates of 2026-11-06. Read how we compare fees.
Identity, protection and services
Legal identity
Ownership
Ownership is shown as published, with its date. It describes who owns the bank; it does not, by itself, suggest any wrongdoing by the bank or its owners.
Financial strength, as reported
Figures for Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC (consolidated). Source: ADCB investor presentation FY 2025.
Services published for this booking unit
Offered at this booking centreOffered by the group, not confirmed hereNot located, which does not mean unavailable
Checked on the bank's own pages, 6 November 2026.
Access and costs
Protection of client assets
Before opening an account
- Which entity would hold our cash and securities, and what protections apply to each?
- What would it cost to transfer the portfolio out, including any third-party charges?
Rate ADCB
If you bank with ADCB or advise clients who do, your experience forms part of its PPLI.com rating. Every response is read by the editor and treated in strict confidence.
Sources
All 13 documents cited on this page, by subject.
Client experience and press
- Reuters (via Yahoo Finance): NMC founder sues EY, banks and execs for $8 billion over alleged fraud, 22 July 2021finance.yahoo.com
Fees
- ADCB: Investment Pricing Schedule English 2018 tcm9 123691 (PDF)adcb.com · Fees
- ADCB: Pb adgm branch sof en (PDF)adcb.com · Fees
- ADCB: Private Banking SOF 2018 tcm9 107436 (PDF)adcb.com · Fees
Identity, ownership, finances and services
- ADCB: Ownership structureadcb.com · Group parent
- ADCB: FY 2023 investor presentation (PDF)adcb.com · Control
- ADCB investor presentation FY 2025adcb.com · Financial strength
- ADCB: Privateadcb.com · Services
- ADCB: Asset managementadcb.com · Services
- ADCB: Adgm branchadcb.com · Services
- ADCB: Accounts depositsadcb.com · Services
- ADCB: Lending and financingadcb.com · Minimum relationship
The bank
- ADCB, websiteadcb.com
For ADCB
Before we publish a significant negative finding that is not already public, we give the bank the facts and time to comment, on the same timetable for every bank. Decisions of regulators and courts are shown as they were published. Corrections we verify are published with the date of the change. Write to [email protected] quoting reference BK-AE-ADCB-1E0506.
Reviewing this file with us
Families and their advisers read this file before they open an account. It can only be as complete as the documents we can find, and much of what sets a private bank apart, from its custody terms to the way a client team works, is rarely published.
If you represent ADCB, one of our Bank Intelligence analysts can go through the file with you: correct anything that is out of date, add terms and documents that are not yet public, and set out what has improved since our last edition. The review is a paid engagement for the analyst's time and research.
The rating itself stays with our editor and follows what the documents show, so we cannot promise a particular result. When a review changes the file, this page notes that the bank took part, with the date and what was added.
About this file
Researched by the PPLI.com research desk from the public sources listed. The rating is our editorial opinion; read how we rate.