Bank ABC announces 2021 results

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bank ABC (Arab Banking Corporation BSC) - Bahrain Bourse Trading Code “ABC” - yesterday announced its results for the year that ended 31 December 2021.

The Group delivered solid results during 2021, benefitting from a pick-up in activities across its core markets and much lower impairment charges.

The current year performance of a headline net profit attributable to the shareholders of the parent of $100 million marks a robust turnaround from the previous year, which was impacted by abnormally elevated ECL charges related to regional fraud cases, leading to a net loss of $89 million.

Achieving another strategic milestone on August 11th, the Group completed the acquisition of BLOM Bank Egypt S.A.E (“BBE”).

BBE is a leading bank in Egypt, with a national presence through 41 branches, and its merger with our existing Bank ABC franchise will drive a new strategy to build a banking powerhouse in this market of fundamental importance to MENA.

The digital transformation programme of the Bank made significant progress during 2021 with many notable achievements, including the launch of fully digital onboarding for corporates.

Bank ABC’s world-class digital mobile-only bank, ila was able to establish itself as a leading innovator and digital disruptor in its home market of Bahrain, exceeding its annual growth targets.

The Group’s fintech payments provider, AFS, installed a new management team and refreshed its strategy to strengthen its market value proposition, creating renewed emphasis on growth in its core processing and merchant acquiring business lines, with the latter set to launch in Egypt shortly.

The Bank also collaborated with various stakeholders to facilitate seamless cross-border payments using our API interface together with JP Morgan’s blockchain platform technology, overseen by the Central Bank of Bahrain.

The pilot was tested using USD, and this technology will allow us to expand our existing offering and introduce more currencies in future.

The Group also won several awards including ‘Best Innovation Lab’, ‘Best Consumer Digital Bank’ and ‘Best Digital Banking App’ for ila, at the Global Finance Innovators Awards; ‘Best Bank in Trade Finance Bahrain’ at the GTR Leaders in Trade Awards and Global Finance’s World’s Best Treasury & Cash Management Banks 2022 Award for “Best Overall Bank for Cash Management” in Bahrain and Tunisia.

Bank ABC’s Group Chairman, Mr Saddek Omar El Kaber commented, “We are pleased with our performance during 2021.

The Group successfully transitioned from a challenging 2020 to delivering higher levels of profitability, with the continued focus on execution of its growth strategy, which also included the acquisition and consolidation of BBE.

Despite continued headwinds in the global economy related to the various Covid-19 variants, inflation and supply-chain bottlenecks we remain optimistic on the future growth as business sentiment improves in the region and beyond.”