Arab Bank reports $218.3m in net profits Q1

AMMAN – Arab Bank Group continued its strong financial performance during the first quarter of 2016 as net profit after taxes and provisions reached $218.3 million, compared to $217.2 million in the same period of last year. 

In a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times on Monday. The bank said that shareholders' equity rose to $8 billion.

The bank’s balance sheet remains strong with loans and advances growing by 3 per cent to reach $24.4 billion compared to $23.7 billion in the first quarter of 2015, said the statement, indicating that customer deposits grew by 2 per cent to $35.4 billion, compared with $34.7 billion in the same period last year.

Excluding the effect of foreign currency devaluations, both loans and customer deposits grew by 4 per cent, according to the bank.

"The bank remains on track to deliver solid financial performance. The first-quarter results are a testimony to the bank’s market leadership and successful strategy," said Arab Bank Chairman Sabih Masri.

Nemeh Sabbagh, Arab Bank CEO, indicated that net operating income grew by 5 per cent excluding non-recurring items, driven by the bank’s focus on its core banking activities and prudent cost control policy. 

The bank maintained a healthy cost-to-income ratio of 39.6 per cent, and non-performing loans to total loans ratio of 4.7 per cent, reflecting the its high quality loan book in addition to the effective management of credit risk, Sabbagh said, adding that Jordan's largest financial institution continues to maintain a high level of liquidity with its loan-to-deposit ratio reaching 68.9 per cent, in addition to its conservative provisioning policy with a coverage ratio of 109 per cent as of March, 31 2016.

The Arab Bank was named as the Best Bank in the Middle East 2016 by the New York-based magazine Global Finance.