Jordan Islamic Bank net profits up 19pc

Manama : Jordan Islamic Bank, a subsidiary banking unit of Al Baraka Banking Group B.S.C. (ABG), announced that its net profits for the first nine months of 2016 increased 19 per cent, when compared to the same period last year.

The bank also said its total assets rose by 6.1pc, financing and investments by 2.5pc, deposits by 6.4pc and shareholders’ equity by 6.3pc at the end of  September 2016 compared to the end of December 2015.

Total operating income improved 14pc to JOD127.5 million from the same period in 2015.

Excluding operating expenses of JOD48m, the bank achieved an improvement in net operating income by 18.4pc from JOD54m to JOD64m during the first nine months of 2016. 

This improvement reflects the growth in income from all financing and investment operations in addition to the bank’s success in controlling the operating expenses, where its percentage from total operating income decreased from 40pc during the first nine months of 2015 to 37.7pc during the first nine months of this year. 

As a result, the net profits recorded a large increase of 19pc to reach JOD42m for first nine months of 2016 compared to same period last year.

At the end of September 2016, the bank’s assets increased by 6.1pc to JOD4.42 billion compared with JOD4.17bn in December 2015. 

This increase was invested to finance the growth in financing and investments, which increased by 2.5pc to JOD3.2bn at the end of September 2016 compared to JOD3.1bn at the end of December 2015. 

This growth, in turn, was financed by increasing the bank’s customer deposits accounts, which increased by 6.4pc to reach JOD4bn at the end of September 2016 compared to JOD3.7bn as the end of 2015 and funded 90pc of the total assets of the bank, and also through the shareholders equity which strengthened by 6.3pc to JOD331m as at the end of September 2016 compared to December 2015.

On this occasion, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Jordan Islamic Bank and President & Chief Executive of Al Baraka Banking Group Adnan Ahmed Yousif said, “The bank has continued during the first nine months of 2016 to expand its branch network, adding three new branches to bring the total to 95 branch employs 2,180 employees and scattered all over the country;  it is going at a steady pace in the implementation of its long  term plan to increase  the number of branches to 117 in five years,” Adnan added.

For his part, CEO & General Manager of Jordan Islamic Bank Musa Abdul Aziz Shihadeh said the  clear growth in profits, assets and deposits and investment confirms the success of the management’s policy
in the implementation of strategic plans and continue to diversify banking services in conjunction with enhancement of the status and role of the bank’s  in the Jordanian economy.

“As a prominent sign of Jordan Islamic Bank’s position in the Jordanian market, the bank won for the eighth consecutive year the ‘Best Islamic financial institution in Jordan for the year 2016’ award as a part of the annual awards the Global Finance magazine awards to international banks and financial institutions,” added Shihadeh.