Bank ABC nine-month profit up 61% as business booms

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bank ABC (Arab Banking Corporation) reported a 41% jump in its third quarter 2023 Consolidated net profit attributable to the shareholders of the parent to US$62 million from US$44 m in the same quarter a year ago.

Bank ABC attributed its strong performance to strong underlying business growth combined with a rising interest rate environment.

Earnings per share was US$0.02, compared to US$0.01 in the same period last year.

Total comprehensive income attributable to the shareholders of the parent was a profit of US$65m compared to a loss of US$6m, reported for the same period last year.

Bank ABC's Group Chairman, Saddek Omar El Kaber remarked, “The Group’s balance sheet remains healthy and robust, with strong capital and liquidity ratios.

We look forward to continuing this great momentum as we steadily progress on our strategic journey to build our “bank of the future.”

Nine months results

Consolidated net profit attributable to the shareholders of the parent was US$183m, a growth of 61% compared to US$114m reported for the same period last year, driven by a combination of strong core business growth across many markets and effective management of interest rate exposures in a rising interest rate environment.

Earnings per share was US$0.06, compared to US$0.04 in the same period last year.

Total comprehensive income attributable to the shareholders of the parent was a positive US$174m, compared to a loss of US$109m reported in 2022.

Last year, the loss arose due to changes in fair valuations of our bond portfolio and net impact of foreign exchange translation in overseas subsidiaries.

However, in the current period these reduced significantly on a net basis with the strengthening of the Brazilian Real and positive movements in the fair market valuations of our bond portfolio offset the impact from depreciation of the Egyptian pound against the US$.

Total Operating Income was US$943m, 19% higher compared to the US$791m reported during the same period last year, reflecting the strong growth in underlying businesses and interest rates.

Operating expenses at US$554m was higher by 12% compared to US$494m, during the same period last year, resulting from a combination of strategic investments and transformation initiatives, supporting business growth and general inflationary increases.

Given the TOI growth of 19% YOY, the Group, therefore, has positive income/cost ‘jaws’ of 7% with a consequent improvement in the cost/income ratio.

The Group said it remains focused on disciplined cost control while continuing to invest in key strategic digital initiatives to build our ‘bank of the future’.