Business & Money | Sunday 28 July, 2019 9:56 am |

Arab Bank Group announced its results for the first half of 2019 reporting a growth of 4% with net profit after tax reaching $453 million as compared to $436 million in 2018. Total loans increased by 3% to reach $26.2, and deposits increased by 3% to reach $34.1 billion. Group equity stood at $8.7 billion.

Mr. Sabih Masri, Chairman of the Board of Directors commented that despite the continued slowdown of economic growth in the region, the Group continues to deliver strong financial performance, which affirms the Bank’s effective management of risks and its ability to deal with the challenging environment.

Mr. Nemeh Sabbagh, Chief Executive Officer, stated that the underlying performance of the Group continues on its growth path with first half results recording a healthy increase of 5% in net operating income. He added that the strong performance was driven by growth in core banking income with net interest income increasing by 5%.

Mr. Sabbagh remarked that Arab Bank Group enjoys high liquidity and strong and robust capitalization. Group’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 15.8% and loan to deposit ratio at %76.9 as of 30 June 2019. He added that the asset quality of the Group remains high and that credit provisions held against non-performing loans exceed 100%.

Mr. Sabih Masri expressed his confidence in the Group’s ability to maintain its leading position and to continue delivering strong results and sustainable growth.

Arab Bank was recently named “The Middle East’s Best Bank 2019”, by Euromoney – London in addition to “Best Bank in the Middle East” for the 4th consecutive year by Global Finance, New York.