UBL started operation in Yemen in 1972 through a branch in Sana’a. In 1989 the bank took over operations of HBL, which led to the addition of the Hodeidah Branch. The 35 year old Sana'a branch was relocated from Tehreer street to its current premises at the Sharah-e-Zubairi in November 2008 and the 19 years old Hodeidah branch was relocated from Sharah-e-Sana’a, Hodeidah to its current premises at the Sharah-e-Meena, Hodeidah in July 2008. The third branch in the country, the Aden branch was also inaugurated in November 2008.
After the privatization of the bank’s operations in 2003, the management decided to revamp the Yemen operations. Since then there has been a noticeable growth in business, bottom line and visibility of UBL in Yemen. During the last four years the Yemen Operations increased its participation in the country’s main economic segments, including cement, steel, hospitality, roads, power generation, and oil exploration. It also play an active role in the country’s trading sector which is a vital for meeting domestic demand of staple food, edible oil, foodstuff etc.
In-order to improve the bank's visibility with an aim to augment the existing growth, along-with paving the path for future development in the country’s operations in terms of assets, liability, trade business and profitability, the Yemen operations has focused on further developing relationship with known names in the local corporate sector, various Ministries, and high net-worth individuals.
Realizing the importance of service quality the region gradually started the process of building teams of young, qualified, energetic, and committed officers. Accordingly, Yemen operations hired expatriates as well as local Yemenis for the newly opened Aden Branch and for the re-located Sana'a branch.
As part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives, UBL has been providing meaningful financial and moral support over the years to institutions and individuals, for the development of human resource and for providing better livelihood for people.