Manama: ABC Islamic Bank announced that its net profit for the year ending 2014 was $15.1 million, 23% higher than last year of $12.2 million. Net profit for the fourth quarter was $3.6 million, 19% higher than the same period of last year.
Total operating income rose to $22.2 million, increase of 22.7% over last year, positively covering a 22.4% increase in expenses of $6.8 million. The comparative increase in expenses was mostly due to a one-off write back in 2013 and some proportionate increase attributable to new hiring of marketing staff in 2014. No impairment provisions were required during the year, demonstrating continuing improvement in credit quality.
Shareholders’ equity at 31 December 2014 stood at $263.6 million, compared to $248.4 million at 2013 year-end. The bank’s capital base remains very strong with a capital adequacy ratio of 23.6%, predominantly Tier 1, which totalled 22.2%.
ABC Islamic Bank’s total assets stood at US$1.328 billion, compared to US$1.002 billion at 2013 year-end.
“There is optimism for 2015 and beyond. Although lower oil prices, & the possibility of lower economic growth for the region, represent new challenges, new investments in our teams and products capability should help us steer through successfully and continue to serve our clients. High profile syndicated transactions and asset churn are gaining traction along-with further widening of Islamic products and a solid platform for Debt Capital Market activity in conjunction with the Group’s Debt Capital Market team,” Naveed Khan, Managing Director of ABC Islamic Bank said.
“We are grateful that these achievements of ABC Islamic Bank have been vindicated by the market place also. ABC Islamic Bank was the first Islamic Bank to obtain a rating from the Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA). This was reaffirmed in September 2014 as being unchanged from the previous year at A-/A-2 on the International scale and A+ (bh)/A-1 (bh) on the National scale with a stable outlook.”