Amidst healthy demand, the Emirates NBD had launched a bond issue worth US$1 billion to allow the Dubai lending institution a focused price guidance. The Tier 1 bond was set with a final yield of 5.75%, which is lower than the initial pricing of 6%.

The bank has engaged the services of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings, ING and Morgan Stanley together with the investment banking unit of Emirates NBD for arrangers of the bond sale.

The demand for regional assets is high as Gulf banks are taking advantage of the highly liquidity in the market. The assets also shore up bank capital ratios because of record low interest rates on loans and other debt instruments.

Under the Basel banking industry regulations, Tier 1 capital bonds are a lender's core capital funds and is one of the key measures in determining the bank's financial strength. There would be an increasing implementation of the stricter Basel III core capital global standards, requiring banks compliance in the next few years.