Al-Sager: Strong profits mainly driven by core banking activities

Isam Al-Sager, NBK Group Chief Executive Officer

KUWAIT: National Bank of Kuwait-Bahrain (NBK Bahrain), the branch of NBK Group in Bahrain, reported net profits of $122 million (BHD 46.067 million) for the first half of 2017 compared with $92 million (BHD 34.772 million) for the same period of 2016, a growth of 32.5 percent year-on-year.

NBK-Bahrain's total assets increased by 21.4 percent y-o-y to $14.226 billion (BHD 5.359 billion), compared with $11.716 billion (BHD 4.414 billion) for the same period of previous year. While total shareholders' equity increased by 24.7 percent y-o-y to $1.448 billion (BHD 0.545 billion) compared with $1.161 billion (BHD 0.437 billion) for the same period of previous year. Customer deposits increased by 13.3 percent y-o-y to $6.930 billion (BHD 2.610 billion) compared with $6.117 billion (BHD 2.304 billion) for the same period of previous year.

Isam Al-Sager, NBK Group Chief Executive Officer said "NBK-Bahrain continues its solid performance achieving high growth in its profits and key financial indicators. The Bank's strong results affirm the success of NBK Group's regional expansion strategy despite economic and geopolitical challenges."

Al-Sager confirmed that "NBK-Bahrain" profits are driven mainly by operating banking revenue which proves to be fruitful despite challenges imposed by the operating environment. "The Bank targets to solidify its position in Bahrain by growing core banking business activities in the coming period" Al-Sager added.

Al-Sager also added that "NBK-Bahrain" is increasingly contributing to NBK Group profits. Going forward, the Bank will continue to focus on improving the banking services offered in Bahrain bringing its standards to NBK Group's best in class service quality at the regional and international levels.

Ali Fardan, NBK-Bahrain General Manager, said "This strong performance reflects our conservative management as we have consistently focused on our core business and ways to diversify sources of income. We continue to grow our operations locally by developing new products to serve our customers benefiting from the support of NBK Group."

NBK has been present in Bahrain since 1977 and enjoys strong and historical relationships with the major Bahraini and international companies. Al-Fardan added. NBK continues to enjoy collectively one of the highest ratings among all banks in the Middle East from the three international rating agencies Moody's, Fitch Ratings and Standard and Poor's. The Bank's ratings are supported by its high capitalization, prudent lending policies, and its disciplined approach to risk management, in addition to its highly recognized and very stable management team. NBK was also named among Global Finance's list of the 50 safest banks in the world for the eleventh consecutive time and was awarded as the Best Bank in Kuwait in 2016 by the Banker, Euromoney and Global Finance.

NBK enjoys the widest banking presence with a local and international network reaching 4 continents. NBK's international presence spans many of the world's leading financial centers including New York, Europe, GCC, Middle East, Singapore as well as China (Shanghai).