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(Amends to 'postponed' from 'proposed' in paragraph 12)
* Transfer of Barclays UAE customers to start Sept 1 - CEO
* Studying whether to pursue buys in SE Asia
* Tentative agreement reached on Amlak restructuring
* Proposal to extend time on Amlak debt repayments
By Stanley Carvalho
ABU DHABI, May 20 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank has received regulatory approval from the United ArabEmirates central bank for its purchase of Barclays' retail operations in the country, its chief executive said onTuesday.
The largest sharia-compliant lender in the emirate agreed a650 million dirham ($177 million) deal with the British banklast month following a competition in which both local andinternational players showed interest.
ADIB received regulatory assent ten days ago and the processof migrating Barclays' 110,000 customers in the country to theAbu Dhabi lender would begin on Sept. 1, Tirad Mahmoud toldreporters.
"We are highly confident that a super-majority of customerswill migrate from Barclays to ADIB," he said when asked ifpeople would remain with the lender post-acquisition.
"We are optimistic because we have 80 branches, lots ofservices and we have overseas offices," Mahmoud added. ADIB hasa branch in Knightsbridge in London, as well as offices inEgypt, Qatar and Iraq.
UAE banks have been expanding at a time of intensecompetition in the Gulf Arab country, with some focusing ondomestic opportunities and others going abroad.
Last week, Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), ADIB's mainrival in sharia-compliant lending in the UAE, said it had agreedto buy 25 percent of Indonesian Islamic lender Bank PaninSyariah for an undisclosed amount.
ADIB was studying the possibility of making acquisitions inSouth East Asia but no decisions had been taken, Mahmoud said,declining to elaborate.
Southeast Asia is attractive for Gulf-based Islamic banks,given the significant Muslim populations in centres such asMalaysia and Indonesia but the relatively-underdeveloped Islamicfinance industry in the region.
Mahmoud also said ADIB had reached a "tentative agreement"with a creditor committee set up to help negotiate a debtrestructuring of Dubai-based Amlak Finance.
Amlak has been in talks with a creditor committee whichincludes two government entities - the Dubai Financial SupportFund and National Bonds - as well as commercial banks includingADIB for the restructuring of 7 billion dirhams of debt.
Mahmoud said on Tuesday the agreement would see repayment ofthe mortgage lender's debts postponed for a period of time,although he declined to provide specifics.
It was hoped the extension of principal repayments wouldhelp the firm regain solvency and allow for a recovery in itsfortunes which would prevent the need for creditors to takehaircuts on the debt, he added.
A spokesperson for Amlak could not be reached for comment. (Writing by David French; Editing by Martin Dokoupil and TomPfeiffer)
