MANAMA: Jordan Islamic Bank (JIB), a subsidiary of Bahrain-headquartered Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG), reported profits, before tax, of US$ 118.1 million in 2016, up 12.1% from US$ 105.4 million in 2015. The bank in a statement said that net profits after tax reached US$ 76.2 million compared to US$ 68.7 million during 2015, nearly 11% growth. The financials are preliminary and subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Jordan.
Adnan Ahmed Yousif, Chairman of Jordan Islamic Bank ,President and Chief Executive of ABG expressed how much pleased he is with the good results the bank achieved during 2016, commending the efforts exerted by the executive management, Board of Directors and employees of the bank to keep on applying the strategic plan , achieve further growth and reap many global prizes and ratings including the awards of strongest Islamic retail bank in Jordan , the best banking group and best Islamic bank in Jordan for 2016 in addition to reaffirming the Sharia Quality Rating AA(SQR) for the eighth consecutive year by the Islamic International Rating Agency (IIRA) for the bank’s high degree of adherence to Sharia principles and provisions through the Sharia governance infrastructure instituted at the bank that is largely in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) in the Code of Corporate Governance (CCG) for Islamic banks in affirmation of JIB’s ability to maintain a distinguished position among Jordanian and Islamic banks ,commending the efforts of the CBJ ,official institutions and organizations supporting the Jordanian banking sector and Islamic banking..
Musa Shihadeh, CEO and General Manager of JIB said that the growth rates achieved assert the safety of approach, efficiency, commitment to the bank’s mission, sustainability, continuation of growth in compliance with principles of governance and confront risks to reflect clearly on the most financial indicators of the bank. However, the growth in total assets including (restricted investment accounts, Muqarada bonds and investment by proxy accounts) reached around 8 % amounting to about US$ 6.35 billion compared to about US$ 5.88 billion at the end of 2015 with an increase of nearly US$ 470 million.
The growth in facilities granted for customers including ( restricted investment, Muqarada bonds and investment by proxy ) reached around 3% amounting to about US$ 4.57 billion compared to about US$ 4.44 billion at the end of 2015 with an increase of about US$ 127 million in a confirmation of the bank’s interest in the development of its investments and financings and distribute them geographically for different sectors including individuals, corporates or SMEs and diversify their investments within a clear and specific policy to achieve good results which reflect on the investments.
Musa Shihadeh indicated that the bank’s excellence in providing developed banking services in compliance with the provisions and principles of Islamic Sharia reinforced the clients’ trust of the bank. The growth in clients’ deposits and accounts (including restricted investment accounts, Muqarada bonds and investment by proxy accounts) reached around 8% amounting to about US$ 5.70 billion compared to US$ 5.29 billion at the end of 2015 with an increase of about US$ 412 million.
The growth achieved in the volume of balance sheet is a reflection on the growth of the revenues which reached 10.8%, amounting to about US$ 313 million compared to about US$ 282.5 million at the end of 2015 with an increase of about US$ 30.5 million.
Growth in joint investment profits before distribution reached about 11.6% at the end of 2016 amounting to about US$ 284 million compared to US$ 254 million at the end of 2015 with an increase of around US$ 30 million.
Musa Shihadeh added that the Shareholders’ equity grew by 10.1% amounting to about US$ 483 million compared to about US$ 439 million at end of 2015. The return on average equity (ROAE) after tax reached about 16.52%. Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) reached about 22.02 % at end of 2016, Return on Assets Average (ROAA) reached 1.37 %, the efficiency ratio reached 37.93%, the Non- Performing Finance(NPF) reached 3.70% and their coverage ratio 121.6%.
The Board of Directors has recommended to the Ordinary General Assembly that will hold its meeting on 26/4/2017 to distribute cash dividends to shareholders for the year 2015 at 15% of the nominal value of shares, increase the bank’s capital from US$211.6 million /share to US$253.9 million / share and distribute bonus shares at 20% from the bank’s capital that covered from the retained earnings after obtaining the prerequisite approvals.
It is worth mentioning that Al Baraka Banking Group (B.S.C) is licensed as an Islamic wholesale bank by the Central Bank of Bahrain, listed on Bahrain Bourse and Nasdaq Dubai stock exchanges. It is a leading international Islamic banking group providing its unique services in countries with a population totaling around one billion. It is jointly rated BBB+ (long term) / A3 (short term) on the international scale and A+ (bh) (long term) / A2 (bh) (short term) on the national by Islamic International Rating Agency & Dagong Global Credit Rating Company Limited, and by Standard & Poor’s at BB+ (long term) / B (short term).
Al Baraka offers retail, corporate, treasury and investment banking services, strictly in accordance with the principles of the Islamic Shari’a. The authorized capital of Al Baraka is US$ 1.5 billion, while total equity is at about US$ 2.2 billion. The Group has a wide geographical presence in the form of subsidiary banking units and representative offices in fifteen countries, which in turn provide their services through over 700 branches. Al Baraka currently has a strong presence in Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Bahrain, Pakistan, South Africa, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, including two representative offices in Indonesia and Libya.
