KUWAIT: Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait (ABK) yesterday announced a net profit of KD 29.2 million for the first nine months of 2015, a 7% increase from KD 27.3 million over the corresponding period in 2014. Net operating income also saw a substantial 8% jump, rising to KD 65.4 million from KD 60.6 million when compared to the third quarter last year.
Net loans and advances to customers increased by 17.7% over the same period, underlining the Bank’s strong organic growth. The Bank will be completing its acquisition of Piraeus Bank of Egypt (PBE) in the fourth quarter of 2015, and will be consolidating PBE as a new ABK subsidiary at the end of the year. The rebranding of PBE’s 39 branch network as ABK Egypt is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2016. ABK is also in the process of launching a major strategic initiative “Simpler Banking”, which highlights a number of service enhancements to make life easier and simpler for customers.
The new initiative is aligned with the Bank’s vision of “Reimagining a Simpler Bank”, which focuses on ABK’s core values of Transparency, Integrity, Simplicity and Excellence, and aims to create new standards in service quality and customer experience. Talal Behbehani, Chairman of ABK, highlighted ABK’s continued strong performance saying: “I am very pleased to be able to report such a strong set of results for ABK.
These results, especially the top line growth, show that our customerfocused approach is bearing fruits. In the future, we also expect sustained growth as we benefit from our acquisition of Piraeus Bank Egypt and the new opportunities it provides.” Michel Accad, ABK’s Chief Executive Officer added: “Today’s results reflect a balanced management approach, consistent planning, and an excellent workforce which is dedicated to putting our customers first. We are also heavily committed to investing in our infrastructure, processes and systems to make sure that we continue to underline our position as one of this region’s most respected banks.” ABK has been regularly honored for its achievements as a leading financial institution across various categories.
So far this year, major awards it has won include: the Banker Middle East award for “Best Retail Bank”, Asian Banker award for “Most Improved Retail Bank in the Middle East”, the “Best Management Information” award at the Dubai Insight Awards, “Best Premium Credit Card” from Banker Middle East, “Award for Excellence” from Standard Chartered Bank and the “Award for Excellent Quality” from International Commerzbank AG.
