Bahrain-based leading bank, BBK, on Monday said that it was planning to apply for a license for the 4th branch in India in Delhi, according to bank’s top revealed. Murad Ali Murad Chairman board of Directors BBK board of directors, on sidelines of the annual general assembly and extra ordinary general assembly meetings, told the 24X7 News that the bank was planning to secure 4th license in Delhi depends upon the final approval of the Indian banking regulators. Referring to a question about the non-performing loans (NPLs) and retaining of profits by the bank this year, Murad said it was right to assume that the profits were retained to address the issues like NPLs.
“BBK has emerged over BD3 billion institution and we need adequate capital base and the profits were retained to further bolster the capital base,” he said. About Basel III he said that BBK was taking all steps to ensure the implementation of Basel III by year-end as planned. Spelling out the aggressive expansion plans under the BBK 2013-15 Strategy, the BBK Chairman said that the third branch in India will be operational by the year-end in Kerala. “India being one of the most promising markets in the region will certainly be focus of BBK’s international expansion plans,” Murad said. “BBK’s two ventures in Kuwait will also take off this year further bolstering bank’s regional business reach,” Murad said. He added that the new strategy would also be focusing at bank’s structure to identify and bridge-up any existing gaps to make the institution more efficient and cost effective in 2013 and beyond. About mergers and acquisitions, the Chairman said the M&A were always under scanning and if the bank finds any lucrative offer and which can add value to shareholders investments, the bank would go ahead. “We are very proud of the bank’s outstanding performance, both in financial terms as well as in achieving the main corporate goals that were set out in our 2010-2012 Strategic Plan. The fact that the bank has been able to produce consistent, rather than volatile, profit growth, against a backdrop of challenging market conditions both internationally and domestically, speaks of BBK’s strong position being Bahrain’s pioneer in retail and commercial banking and reflects its commitment to serve all its stakeholders with diligence,” the Chairman of the Board of Directors, said. “Through our new 2013-2015 Strategic Plan we will seek to build upon what has been achieved over the last three years. Challenging new objectives will be set for all our business units, both locally and in the other markets in which the bank operates, as we pursue growth opportunities and build on our strengths. The bank shall also closely monitor and control its internal operating cost structure along with its overall level of efficiency. Hence going forward, a key objective is to improve economy of scale for the bank,” he said.
Talking about 2013 forecast he said that though it was too early to predict but given the strong performance in January, it seems the 2013 will be a robust year in terms of performance. “The year 2011 was very challenging due to many regional and local factors, however, the year 2012 was very good and we hope that 2013 will be even better,” Murad added.