ABG total assets rose 9pc to exceed US$25bn

Manama : Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG) yesterday announced financial results for full-year 2017 reporting a 9 per cent increase in total assets, 9pc increase in financing and investment portfolio, 8pc increase in customer accounts and 25pc increase in total equity, compared to end of December 2016. 

Profits for the period, according to the bank, were affected by the decrease of local currencies of four major banking units of the Group against the US dollar. 

Total operating income decreased by 7pc to reach US$1 billion and net operating income decreased by 15pc to US$430 million from the year 2016.  

Net income decreased 23pc to US$207m compared to US$268m for the year 2016 and net income attributable to equity holders of the Parent decreased by 15pc to US$129m in 2017 compared to US$152m in 2016. 

The net income was also affected by the increase in the amount of prudential provisions under the conservative approach followed by the Group.

In the fourth quarter, net income decreased by 17pc to reach US$53m from US$64m for the same period in 2016. Net income attributable to the parent dropped 8pc to reach US$32m from US$35m.  

Total assets grew by 9pc to reach US$25.5bn compared to US$23.4bn at end of 2016.  

Operating assets (financing and investments) amounted to US$19.1bn as at the end of December 2017 compared to US$17.5bn at the end of December 2016, an increase of 9pc. 

Customer accounts as at the end of December 2017 also increased over its December 2016’s level by 8pc and reached US$20.7bn compared to US$19.2bn, representing 81pc of total assets. 

Total equity reached US$2.5bn at the end of December 2017, increasing substantially by 25pc compared to December 2016. 

Commenting on the results, Adnan Ahmed Yousif, Member of the Board of Directors and President & Chief Executive of Al Baraka Banking Group said: “ABG has encountered many challenges during 2017, most notably is the depreciation of currencies in some countries in which our units operate, which affected the growth rates of the balance sheet items and income. We have been able to compensate for this effect by increasing the volume of business in the Group units significantly.”

With regard to the Group’s plans to expand its branch network, the President & Chief Executive said: “In the field of IT, we have completed the study of the transition to a new core banking system that is more sophisticated and responsive to the needs of the expansion of the Group. During 2018, we will implement this system in five banking units of the Group, followed by the rest of the units”.

He also noted that Al Baraka Banking Group in cooperation with a number of other Islamic banks will launch the world’s first fintech Islamic consortium “ALGO Bahrain”, for Islamic banks in Bahrain.