UPDATE 3-Interpol issues warrant for Abu Dhabi bank CEO

(Adds bank performance under Knox)

By Stanley Carvalho

DUBAI, May 22 (Reuters) - An Interpol arrest warrant for the chief executive of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank ADCB.AD is a personal matter relating to his divorce and not connected to the bank's operations, the bank said on Thursday.

The emirate's third-largest bank by market value said it supported Eirvin Knox, a 59-year-old American, who has headed ADCB since 2003.

"This is a personal matter linked to his personal divorce case and is not linked in any way to the bank's activities," the bank said in a statement.

The warrant was issued in the Philippines, where Knox once worked as the head of a major bank, and relates to "a violation of an early 2004 (Philippine) act pertaining to violence against women and their children," Interpol sources told Reuters.

The Interpol warrant is classified as a "red notice" which seeks the arrest of a wanted person with a view to extradition, they said.

"He was married to a Filipina and she is a very well connected person," a senior official at ADCB told Reuters, declining to be identified.

ADCB said Abu Dhabi courts had already ruled in favour of Knox and the "current matter is linked to the implementation of a sentence between him and his divorcee".