Manama: Mahmood Rafique, Editor: The Kingdom of Bahrain’s banking sector remained highly liquid with capital adequacy level reaching 20 per cent at end of Q2 2024 compared with 19.3 per cent in Q2 2023.
This came as the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) held its fourth board meeting for 2024 for the year 2024, led Hassan Khalifa Al Jalahma, Chairman of CBB Board of Directors.
The capital adequacy ratio for the various banking sectors was 32.9% for conventional retail banks, 16.7% for conventional wholesale banks, 19.6% for Islamic retail banks, and 20.8% for Islamic wholesale banks in Q2 024.
The Board reviewed the topics on the agenda including the CBB’s performance report and developments in the financial sector for the third quarter of 2024 and the CBB’s financial performance report.
The Board also reviewed key monetary and banking indicators for the year including the money supply, which increased by BD 0.6 million to reach BD 16.4 billion at the end of August 2024, compared to the same period in 2023. As for retail banks, total private deposits increased to BD14.3billion at the end of August 2024, an increase of 2.9% compared to the end of August 2023. The outstanding balance of total loans and credit facilities extended to resident economic sectors increased to BD12.2 billion at the end of August 2024, an increase of 5.2% compared to the end of 2023, with the Business Sector accounting for 42.3% and the Personal Sector at 48.8% of total loans and credit facilities. The balance sheet of the banking system (retail banks and wholesale sector banks) increased to $243.1 billion at the end of August 2024, an increase of 8.2% compared to the end August of 2023.
Point of Sales (POS) data for August 2024 totaled 18.2 million transactions (77.2% of which were contactless), an increase of 18.1% compared to the same period in 2023. The total value of POS transactions for August 2024 totaled BD 387.7 million (52.2% of which were contactless), an increase of 15.7% compared to the same period in 2023.
The total number of registered Collective Investment Undertakings (CIUs) as of August 2024 stood at 1715 CIUs, compared to 1673 funds as of August 2023. The net asset value (NAV) of the CIUs increased from US$ 10.651 billion in Q2 2023 to US$ 11.178 billion in Q2 2024, reflecting an increase of 4.95%. Moreover, the NAV of Bahrain domiciled CIUs increased from US$ 4.390 billion in Q2 2023 to US$ 4.428 billion in Q2 2024, reflecting an increase of 0.87%. Furthermore, the NAV of overseas domiciled CIUs increased from US$ 6.261 billion in Q2 2023 to US$ 6.750 billion in Q2 2024, reflecting an increase of 7.81%. Additionally, the NAV of Shari’a-compliant CIUs increased from US$ 1.412 billion in Q2 2023 to US$ 1.812 billion in Q2 2024, reflecting an increase of 28.33%.
