The announcement, by Ithmaar Bank Chairman His Royal Highness Prince Amr Mohammed Al Faisal, followed the review and approval, by the Board of Directors, of the Bank’s consolidated financial results for the three month period ended 31 March 2011.
“On behalf of the Ithmaar Bank Board of Directors, I am pleased to report that, despite challenging market conditions, the Bank reported profits during the first quarter of the year and is forging ahead with aggressive retail expansion plans,” said HRH Prince Amr.
“The results indicate that our core retail and corporate banking activities continue to remain a stable source of recurring income,” said HRH Prince Amr.
“Total income during the first quarter of 2011, at $49.9 million, has increased significantly over the comparative amount of $38 million reflecting growth in core business, including branch expansion by Faysal Bank Limited after excluding income from a one-off investment exit, during the first quarter of 2010,” he said.
“The Group has continued to successfully control costs,” said HRH Prince Amr. “The increase in operating expenses is mainly due to the expansion of its flagship subsidiary Faysal Bank Limited (FBL) following the addition of 80 branches acquired from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in Pakistan,” he said.
“I am pleased, also, to report that, despite the challenging market conditions, we continued to increase our deposit base,” said HRH Prince Amr. “Customer current accounts, for example, have increased by more than eight percent to $740 million as at 31 March 2011, compared to $684 million as at 31 December 2010. Equity of unrestricted investment account holders has also increased to $1.23 billion,” he said.
“Ithmaar Bank’s balance sheet, and its shareholders’ equity remain strong,” said Ithmaar Bank Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board, Mohammed Bucheerei.
“Total assets marginally decreased by two percent, mainly due to rationalisation of the Group investment portfolio arising from FBL’s acquisition of RBS Pakistan,” he said.
“Recurring income from our core retail and corporate banking activities continues to play a key role in our success, and we are committed to further developing them,” said Bucheerei.
“In fact, we recently announced that we are forging ahead, with full force, towards the full implementation of an aggressive business expansion programme,” he said.
The programme, which has already seen the Bank expanding its network, improving its delivery channels and introducing new, customer-focused products and services, demonstrates our unwavering commitment to becoming the Islamic banking partner of choice for retail banking customers in Bahrain.
“Recurring income from our growing retail and commercial banking activities, which has seen an increased customer base and growing customer deposits, contributed in large part to our success,” said Bucheerei. “We will continue to further develop these activities with a particular emphasis on customer-focused products and services,” he said.
“We are especially committed to playing a real and meaningful role in supporting the development of Bahrain’s economy and, in particular, its banking and finance sector,” said Bucheerei. “In line with that commitment, we continue to work towards improving both our products and our reach,” he said.
“This includes expanding our fast growing network of strategically located branches and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs),” said Bucheerei.
“In the past year alone, we added five new offsite ATMs and started preparing three new branch locations – in Sanad, in Budaiya and in Manama – that will be inaugurated this year. We have already added another three new ATMs this year, and are now working to inaugurate, later in the year, an additional three new branches in Budaiya, Hamalah and Busaiteen,” he said.
Ithmaar has also invested heavily on upgrading its online banking, telephone banking, SMS notification system as well as on expanding its Call Centre to accommodate additional calls.
Ithmaar’s business expansion plans are part of the Bank’s new, Board-approved strategy which was unveiled following Ithmaar Bank’s reorganisation with its then wholly-owned subsidiary, Shamil Bank, and its subsequent transformation into a retail-focused Islamic Bank in April 2010.