DUBAI: Arab Bank Group reported net profit after tax and provisions of $217.2 million for the first quarter of 2015 compared to USD 216.3 million in the previous year.
Loans and advances increased by 3% to reach USD 23.7 billion, compared to the same period last year, while customer deposits reached USD 34.7 billion. Adjusting for the impact of exchange rates, loans and customer deposits grew by 6.3% and 4.4% respectively.
Arab Bank Chairman, Mr. Sabih Masri, stated that the results achieved in the first quarter reflect the Bank’s commitment to maintain the quality of its loan portfolio and to strengthen its capital position. The bank’s capital adequacy ratio stood at a strong level of 14.6%.
Commenting on the bank’s performance, Mr. Nemeh Sabbagh, Arab Bank’s CEO stated that excluding the effect of exchange rate devaluations, the bank’s net operating profit grew by 4 % compared to the same period in 2014.
In line with the bank’s prudent strategy, the bank continued to improve asset quality with the ratio of nonperforming loans to net loans going down to 4.9% at the end of March 2015 compared to 5.6% at the end of March 2014.
Operating expenses were maintained at the same level. Liquidity continued to be robust with a loan-to-deposit ratio of 68.4%.
Mr. Masri expressed his full confidence in the bank’s financial performance and its ability to continue growing its profits in the years ahead on a sound and sustainable basis.
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