Arab Bank reports net profits of $218.2m

Manama : Arab Bank Group yesterday announced a net profit after tax of $218.2 million for the first quarter of 2017, as compared to  $218.3 million. 

Net operating income before provisions and taxes reached $290m driven by growth in the underlying core banking revenue. Excluding the effect of foreign currency devaluations, the bank’s net operating income would have shown a growth of 7pc. Customer deposits stood at $33 billion whilst the loans and advances increased by 3pc to reach $24.4bn. 

Sabih Masri, Chairman stated that the strong performance of Arab Bank Group confirms the success of the Group in dealing with the challenging environment.

Nemeh Sabbagh, Chief Executive Officer, stated that the Group enjoys high liquidity and strong capitalisation. As of 31 March 2017, the Group’s loan-to-deposit ratio stood at 68.4pc, whilst capital adequacy ratio calculated in accordance with the new Basel III regulations reached 15.5pc. He added that the asset quality of the Group remains to be high, and that credit provisions held against non-performing loans continue to exceed 100%, excluding the value of collaterals held.

Arab Bank was named the “Best Bank in the Middle East for 2017 and 2016 by Global Finance magazine.