Ithmaar Bank reports profits for 2022

TDT | Manama                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com   

Ithmaar Bank, a Bahrain-based Islamic retail bank, reported profits for the year ended 31 December 2022.

The announcement, by Ithmaar Bank Chairman His Royal Highness Prince Amr Al Faisal, follows the review and approval of the Board of Directors of the Bank’s consolidated financial results.

Ithmaar Bank reported a full year 2022 net profit attributable to equity holders of BD3.10 million, a 706% increase compared to the net loss of BD0.51 m reported for 2021.

Total net profit is BD8.34 m compared to the net profit of BD5.16 m reported for 2021.

This is mainly due to higher core income during the year.

Quarterly results

The Bank reported profits for the year, despite recording a net loss attributable to equity holders for the three-month period ended 31 December 2022 of BD8.29 m compared to the net profit of BD2.11 m reported for the same period in 2021.

Total net loss was BD6.86 m compared to the BD3.82 m net profit reported for the same period in 2021.

This is mainly due to prudent impairment provisions as well as higher taxation charges from the group’ subsidiary in Pakistan.

“On behalf of the Ithmaar Bank Board of Directors, I am pleased to report that the Bank continues to report profits for the year as it has started the next phase of growth as an exclusively corporate-focused Islamic bank,” said HRH Prince Amr.

“This new phase marks an important milestone in the Group’s transformation, and adds to our decades-long history as key pioneers of the region’s Islamic banking and finance industry,” he said.

This follows completion of the transaction on 7 July 2022, which involved Ithmaar Holding, Ithmaar Bank’s parent company, selling some of its key assets in Bahrain, including Ithmaar Bank’s consumer banking business as well as Ithmaar Holdings’ ownership stake in BBK and Solidarity Group Holding, to Al Salam Bank.

The results show that the group’s share of income from unrestricted investment accounts as a Mudarib increased to BD176.99 m for the year ended 31 December 2022, a 106% increase compared to BD85.84 m for the same period in 2021.

This contributed to increasing the group’s share of income from unrestricted investment accounts as a Mudarib to BD83.07 m for the year ended 31 December 2022, a 75 percent increase compared to BD47.55 m for 2021.