KUWAIT CITY: Gulf Bank announced a net profit of KD 9.8 million for the first quarter of 2015 which is a 12 percent increase over the same period in 2014. Over the same period, the Operating profit before provisions increased by 15 percent to KD 27.2 million from KD 23.6 million, mainly due to an increase in net interest income by 9 percent.
The bank’s key metrics have also witnessed strong growth which contributed to the overall improvement in the performance of the bank. The Capital Adequacy under Basel III is at 15.2 percent against the regulatory requirement of 12.5 percent. The bank’s non-performing Loans (i.e ‘NPL’) ratio also continued to improve to 3 percent at the end 1Q2015 decreasing from 6.5 percent at the beginning of last year. The NPL coverage ratio also increased to 290 percent at the end 1Q2015 against the 187 percent coverage at the beginning of 2014.
Commenting on the results, Omar Kutayba Alghanim, Gulf Bank’s Chairman said: “With the announcement of our first quarter results, I can firmly state that Gulf Bank is a strong and safe bank. Our goal in 2015 is to maintain the financial discipline and investing in the bank’s infrastructure to ensure we have robust internal controls in place at all levels of the operations. I am also proud that the bank has embedded the Risk Adjusted Return on Capital (RAROC) and value creation as a framework for measuring the performance of each business group. Our next focus is improving even further our clients experience via innovation.”
Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno, Gulf Bank’s Chief Executive Officer said: “I am pleased to report the positive results Gulf Bank has achieved in the first quarter of the year. Our results are a reflection of the hard work and dedication of the Gulf Bank team. We were recently recognized as the Best Retail Bank in Kuwait by the Asian Banker for the fourth time. Gulf Bank also won “Best Customer Experience Overall Branch” from Ethos Integrated Solutions and the “Best Car Loan” and “Best Customer Service (Retail)” from Banker Middle East.
“But there is more to come. Both retail and wholesale banking are determined to provide even better services and products. The first result of that was the SME Fund launch in cooperation with the Kuwait National Fund for small, medium size enterprises development. The Board has given us a clear mandate: grow via innovation and better products and services. Make Gulf Bank a reference in the region. To that end we are deploying our best efforts.”
The international rating agencies Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s have in their assessments, affirmed the Bank’s asset quality, solid revenue generating capacity and deployment of risk management systems and practices together with comfortable liquidity metrics. The bank has a ‘Positive’ outlook from both these agencies.
