Guidance for 2016: i) Low single-digit revenue and earnings growth (2015: 1.4%); ii) Neutral to positive JAWS - revenue growth likely to be in-line or higher than cost growth (2015 cost growth 10.5%); iii) Loan-to-deposit ratio target below 95% (2015: 88.1%); iv) Credit quality: cost of risk under 55bps (2015: 44bps); NPL ratio c3.0% (2.76%); NPL coverage 100-110% (105%); and v) ROE: medium-term target of c15%   Loan growth: The bank believes that it is in a very comfortably positioned to grow its loan book, particularly in the retail segment. NBAD is targeting loan growth in the retail segment at 3.0-4.0x the market’s growth rate, broadly in-line with the growth that the bank delivered in 2015 in this segment.   Operating costs: The bank’s incremental investment will be in risk, compliance and cash management to bring the bank at par with the standards of international banks.  NBAD is focusing on its back office costs which NBAD believes have a lot of room for optimisation.   NIM: Management expects slow margin expansion in 2016. NBAD believes that the EIBOR – LIBOR spread should continue to be well behaved however it could potentially widen in 2H2015. Cost of funds should go up marginally as focus on CASA growth, strong credit rating and international network should help NBAD mitigate the increase.   Funding: NBAD stated that it continues to reduce its concentration of government deposits. Management stated that it has seen great stability in government sector deposits and that these deposits are no longer significant for the bank.   Credit quality: Management believes that NBAD is one of the few banks in the region which has the liquidity to go after the low-risk credits (GREs and other high quality corporates). . The launch of the credit bureau has been quite helpful as the bank ramps up its retail loan book. NBAD’s provisioning rose sharply in 4Q2015 – cost of risk jumped to 81 bps from 31bps in 3Q2015. NBAD believes that it is important to front load provisioning to prevent an aggressive spike next year. Management expects some recoveries in 1H2015 in the corporate segment which should help mitigate provisioning pressure in 2016. (Company, Shabbir Malik)