BBK Bank reported net profit of BD12 million in for the 1st quarter of 2012, with a growth of 3% compared to BD 11.7 million for the same period of last year. The Bank’s Board of Directors in its meeting on Sunday approved the Bank’s financial statements for the three months ended 31st March 2012.
“We are pleased with the achieved results for the 1st quarter of 2012 , which marks the last year of the Bank’s current strategic plan 2010-2012, gives an indicator of the a good performance despite of the challenging market conditions ,” Murad Ali Murad, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, said.
For the three months ended 31st March 2012, the Bank reported a growth in net interest income of 7.9% to reach BD 15.1 million, mainly driven by the growth in net loans and advances, and growth of fixed income investments portfolio, supported by tight management of funding cost. Fees and commissions recorded a solid growth of 15.8% compared to March 2011 to reach BD 6.7 million. FX & Investment income stood at BD 3.1 million compared to BD 4.6 million for the same period of last year, which included BD 0.3 million of income arose from buy back of sub-debt (current year: nil). Net Provisions and Tax requirement amounted to BD 0.8 million compared to BD 1.1 million for three months ended March 2011. Comprehensive income has increased by BD 15.1 million to reach BD 22.9 million in March 2012; driven by the improvement of investments fair value.
Operating costs has increased by 4.4% compared to the same period last year, mainly due to the Banks continuous plans to invest in various strategic initiatives, improving its customer service and expanding its customers outreach. The progress is going as planned for the BBK new modernized branch in Al Hidd city which is expected to be opened during 2012.
BBK’s balance sheet as of 31st March 2012 has shown a growth of 15.9% over the same period of last year, and stood at BD 2,800 million. The growth in the balance sheet was driven by the growth in net loans & advances by 9.4% to stand at BD 1,415 million, and the growth in non-trading investment portfolio by 56.9% to reach BD 646 million. Customer deposits on the other hand, grew by 14.22% to reach BD 1,966 million, benefiting from the flight to quality, and continuous customers trust and confidence in the Bank.
Liquidity continued to remain at a very comfortable level with liquid assets (Cash and balances with central banks, treasury bills, and Deposits and due from banks and other financial institutions) to total assets standing at 22.4% with loan to customer deposit ratio at 72.0%.
“Despite the challenging operating environment, we are pleased to report a positive growth results at the start of the year and being able to maintain the competitive edge in growing our assets base and customers’ deposits,” A.Karim Bucheery, Chief Executive said.
“We attribute our good results to our flexible and diversified strategic plan which conforms to the changing operating environment, and to the confidence that of our valued customers have in the Bank, as a result of our continuous investments in our customer service to ensure our customers are enjoying the best banking services in the Kingdom. In that regard, the bank has launched an enhancement to the SMS mobile banking service, and added ATM machines at two new locations, during the first three months of the year.
“We would like to express our sincere appreciation to our valued shareholders, customers, and employees for their support and trust which they showed, and Central Bank of Bahrain for their continuous guidance,” he added.