Housing Bank boasts record operational profit

AMMAN — The Housing Bank for Trade and Finance (HBTF) announced in a press statement on Sunday that it achieved an unprecedented operational profit last year. 

According to the press release, JD357 million were generated as operational profit, JD30 million or 9.1 per cent higher than the JD327 million recorded in 2012.

Net pretax profit, after taking provisions into account,  amounted to JD150.1 million at the end of last year, 6 per cent higher than the JD142.2 million posted in 2012.

The profit became JD106.9 million in 2013 after the taxes and provisions compared to JD104.5 million in the previous year.

Accordingly, the bank recommended distributing dividends to shareholders at a rate of 30 per cent.

HBTF Chairman Michel Marto affirmed the bank’s solid financial position and its strong capital base pointing in the press release to assets totalling JD7.2 billion and clients’ deposits standing at JD5.1 billion.

The bank’s net credit facility portfolio totalled JD3 billion while shareholders’ equity stood at JD1.1 billion, according to the bank’s statement on its preliminary results.

“The bank managed to achieve these figures despite a decline in the value of the Syrian lira during 2013 which affected the balance sheet of the International Bank for Trade & Finance/Syria, an affiliated bank of the HBTF,” Marto said.

The figures reflected positively on the bank’s financial soundness as capital adequacy ratio stood at 18.8 per cent, higher than the 12 per cent required by the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ).

The return on assets ratio came at 1.5 per cent while the return on equity rights was 10.2 per cent. Moreover, the bank’s liquidity rate stood at 159 per cent, which is higher than the rate required under the CBJ’s requirements. 

The bank currently has 119 branches across Jordan and several affiliates in some other Arab countries.   

The HBTF was established in 1973 as a public shareholding limited company to provide housing finance and after 24 years of operations, the bank was licenced to operate as a comprehensive bank, providing full commercial and investment banking services.