Africa’s largest banking group by market value, FirstRand, will next month engage in a titanic battle with the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) largest lender, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) over the latter’s trademark application in SA.
FirstRand, worth about R420bn on the JSE, argues that the brand name FAB is too similar to its biggest subsidiary, FNB, and would cause confusion in the market.
The SA banking major has already suffered two bruising defeats at the high court, with the group hoping for better luck at the SCA.
FAB is equally determined to have a presence in SA — still seen as a gateway to Africa with the bank’s sister company, International Resources Holding (IRH), on the hunt for critical minerals on the continent.
Business Day first reported on FAB’s application to seek a trademark in SA.
FirstRand will seek to convince the SCA that the high court in Pretoria erred when it ruled that FAB’s trademark does not infringe that of FNB.
In terms of the trademark FAB is seeking, once issued with a certificate of registration, the proprietor of the trademark has to commence trading within five years of the issuing of the certificate.
The high court found that FAB’s trademark application did not infringe that of FNB, with the court declining FirstRand’s application for leave to appeal, saying it had no prospects of success.
FirstRand has now petitioned the SCA for a hearing.
The SCA’s leadership has brought some of the court’s finest legal minds to hear the matter, including commercial law expert David Unterhalter.
Headquartered in Khalifa Business Park, Abu Dhabi, the bank’s international network spans five continents, providing the global relationships, expertise and financial strength to support local, regional and international businesses seeking to do business at home and abroad.
The group is primarily engaged in corporate, consumer, private and investment banking activities, payment services, management services, Islamic banking activities and real estate activities.
It carries out operations through its local and overseas branches, subsidiaries and representative offices located in Bahrain, Brazil, Cayman Islands, China, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, the UK and US.
Formed from the merger of National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank in 2017, FAB is about half owned by sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment and members of the emirate’s ruling family.
Mubadala, which has $276bn in assets under management, owns 37.9% of FAB and the Abu Dhabi ruling family has a 15.8% stake in the lender.
FAB, according to its latest results, has about R6-trillion in assets.
The lender, which was previously linked with a takeover bid of British multinational bank Standard Chartered, has declined to comment on its intention for the SA market as it forges ahead with the trademark application.
IRH two years ago outbid Sibanye-Stillwater as the strategic equity partner for Zambia’s Mopani Copper Mine in a $1bn deal.
IRH and FAB are both chaired by a senior member of the ruling family, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
Nahyan, who is also the UAE’s national security adviser and deputy ruler, was in 2023 appointed as chair of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the main sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s capital. It is said to manage assets of more than $800bn.
IRH last year signed a memorandum of understanding with the Public Investment Corporation.
One of the features of the agreement is to establish a geoscience company that will conduct extensive geological surveys and research, employing advanced AI to identify and assess new mining opportunities.
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