Paul Wayne Wright

The opening of the Abu Dhabi International Bank (ADIB) in Washington, D.C. last year was accompanied by a number of fanciful newspaper stories suggesting that the bank would engage in some spectacular and glamorous financial wheeling and dealing, as well as become a funnel for big "petrodollar" investments in the U.S. By now, however, people who know what the bank is really doing are ready to agree with the man who runs it, Paul Wayne Wright, who has always been saying: "The only thing glamorous about us is our name."

Mr. Wright, who holds the title of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, neglects to mention one other glamorous thing about the bank: its location, less than two blocks from the White House. But when he tells you what the bank does do, it certainly doesn't sound particularly exciting: except to people who are turned on by the traditional operations of a solid, safe and conservatively-managed bank.

"We are a commercial bank," Mr. Wright says, with a federal charter from the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency. We do what you might expect: make short and medium-term loans to corporations; provide performance and bid bonds; issue documentary credits, and so forth. But we don't do retail banking, and although we have a license that entitles us to engage in trust operations—that is, make investments for clients—we have chosen not to exercise this option up to now."

Growing Assets

Since starting one year ago with a total of $23.5 million to work with—$20 million in capital and subordinated debt and the rest in loans and deposits—ADIB has gradually built its balance sheet up to nearly $400 million. "We could be much larger by this time, but we want to move carefully," Mr. Wright says. ADIB has a marketing staff of four persons, not counting Mr. Wright himself, who travel continually not just in the United States but in the other countries of the Western Hemisphere. ADIB keeps in close touch with the Inter-American Development Bank and with the World Bank, and has participated in two loans with the World Bank's International Finance Corporation, which specializes in helping the private sector. ADIB also takes part in loan syndications on the Euromarket, and has an active treasury department which deals in federal funds, Eurodollars and foreign exchange. It does not invest in any equities, however.

ADIB's loan business is mainly with U.S. corporations, Mr. Wright says, and it focuses on those that do business with the Middle East. "This is where we think we have our edge with competing American banks," he adds, "since we have connections and expertise in the Middle East that others aren't likely to have." But Mr. Wright says ADIB also deals with U.S. companies which do not have any Middle East-related activities. "Energy finance is a particular interest of ours," he says. "We have provided working capital for some large energy companies, for example, and have also financed the construction of drilling rigs—rigs to be used not in the Middle East but in such places as the Gulf of Mexico." He emphasizes, though, that 11 we are picky about whom we deal with. Some energy companies have been skating on ice that is a bit too thin, in our judgment." ADIB keeps its exposure low with any single company it deals with, in or out of the energy field. Its loans generally range from about $1 million to about $10 million.

Cautious and Conservative

ADIB's cautious and conservative approach is in the tradition of the organization of which it is a subsidiary—the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), one of the largest banks in the Middle East, with branches in Bahrain, Egypt, Oman, Sudan, Tunisia, Singapore, France and the United Kingdom. Owned principally by an agency of the government, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, NBAD is very solidly grounded. With a capitalization of $650 million, it has $6.2 billion in assets-giving it a ratio of net worth to assets that is about twice as high as is customary in the United States. Furthermore, its ratio of loans to deposits is less than 40 percent, compared to the 80 percent or so which is normal in big American banks. In short, it is highly liquid, strongly capitalized and conservatively run.

Mr. Wright, who moved to Washington only in 1980, has the solid credentials to go with such a solid bank. He was recruited to open up the Abu Dhabi International Bank after spending 21 years in the international department of New York's Citibank, the second largest bank in the United States. At various times during this period he was involved in Citibank's activities not only in the Middle East but in Latin America, Western Europe, the Far East and Africa. Mr. Wright holds degrees from the University of Colorado, the American Graduate School of International Management and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is married and has three children.