BMI Bank, a Bahrain-based retail and commercial banking major, said that the bank’s underlying business continues to be robust and profitable.
The first quarter of 2014 reflect a loss after provisions of BD 4.3 million as compared to a net profit of BD 0.34 million during the same period in 2013, due to the provision of a one-off merger related operating expense.
The bank announced its financial results for the first quarter ended 31 March 2014 with total assets and total loans and advances as at the end of the period stood at BD 0.80 billion and BD 0.38 billion, respectively, as against BD 0.73 billion and BD 0.38 billion at the end of 2013. Customer deposits grew from BD 0.53 billion as at the end of 2013 to BD 0.58 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2014 at an annualized growth rate of 20%. Further to a previous announcement confirming the conclusion of the Bank’s business combination with Al Salam Bank Bahrain (ASBB), both Banks have updated their respective CR’s to give effect to the share swap and consequently BMI Bank’s new Shareholders on record is now ASBB and ASBB Business Holding.
“During the first quarter, we rolled out a refreshed Ayadi Savings Scheme with 6 Diyar Homes Villas and a total of 396 prizes worth in excess of USD 1,900,000. We are pleased to note a significant uptake in the product as seen by a 14.7% increase in the overall portfolio size. In addition our generic multi-purpose prepaid card and internet prepaid card have been well received by customers with over 46% of new customers preferring to sign up for the product when opening an account with the Bank,” Jamal Al-Hazeem, Chief Executive Officer of BMI Bank, said.
“Leading on from the successful foundation laid during the previous years, we have continued our investments in our system, product and services to consolidate our position as a young tech-savvy key player amongst local banks with innovative financial solutions.”
“I am pleased to inform you that as of the 31st of March 2014, we have completed the share swap with Al Salam Bank Bahrain and are now working on a gradual and seamless integration of our combined businesses. We believe that this is an excellent step forward for all our stakeholders and both, institutions as well as customers will benefit from the synergy. In effect, customers will soon be able to take advantage of a host of benefits including better pricing and a wider range of products and services including the advantage of banking through a bigger network within Bahrain.”
“At BMI Bank, we maintain an excellent Capital Adequacy Ratio of over 15% with very strong liquidity as well as a robust and profitable core business. We will continue our focus on providing customers with competitive, unique and innovative financial solutions as we move forward towards finalizing the operational aspects of our business combination with ASBB.”