UAE's Largest Lender Set To Start Talks On Israeli Banking Tie-ups

First Abu Dhabi Bank, the UAE's biggest lender, plans to start talks with Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi to forge cooperation in the financial sector.

“The discussions will look to establish banking relationships that will strengthen financial and economic cooperation between UAE and Israel, focusing on correspondent banking, bilateral trade, and technology and innovation,” First Abu Dhabi Bank said in a tweet cited by Bloomberg.

The decision follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the UAE central bank and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, the bank said.

The UAE and Israel started normalizing relations last month. As part of the process, El Al Israel Airlines on Monday operated an unprecedented commercial flight to the UAE with senior US and Israeli officials aboard.

The US-Israeli delegation left Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

The UAE and Israel are expected to sign the US-brokered accord, Israel's first with a Gulf nation and only its third with an Arab state, at the White House in coming weeks.

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House advisor, led the delegation, which arrived in the UAE capital on Monday on the first ever commercial flight from Tel Aviv.

The US is on a diplomacy drive to push more Arab nations to strike deals with Israel. Although none have yet announced such moves, Kushner said he hoped another would emerge soon.

"Let’s hope it’s months" as opposed to years, he said when asked by the Emirati official news agency WAM when he expected a breakthrough, adding it was "logical" that all 22 Arab states could one day follow suit.