MANAMA: Total assets of the 34 Bahrain-domiciled banks grew $568 million taking the total figure to $154.046 billion at the end of first half of 2014, according to BAB overview of the banking sector.
The report says that these institutions have recovered from the low of $125.937 billion in 2009 to $153.478 billion in 2013.
The report measures the Bahrain’s financial sector maintains growth momentum in 2014 for which comprises of 404 financial institutions of which 116 are banks.
These figures were released by the Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) team during the Press Meet which was also addressed by the Vice Chairman of BAB Board and leading banker Adnan A. Yousif, the President and Chief Executive of the world’s largest Islamic banking group, ABG.
Of these 29 are retail banks and 76 in the wholesale sector. In total 34 are considered to be domestic banks.
This compares with the 42 at the beginning of 2013 and reflects the efforts of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) to encourage banks to consolidate their activities, switch licence categories and in some cases to cease operations.
The most recent consolidated data comes from the Bahrain Banks Annual Review 2014 which provides information up to the end of 2013 and will be published in mid-January.
By the end of the first half of 2014 this had grown by $568 million to $154.046 billion indicating a consistent upward trend, the strength emphasizing individual bank’s results for the first three quarters which again show a substantial growth in assets, pre-tax profits and loans and deposits. In fact total assets have grown by 22% since 2009 and are higher than before the global financial crisis when Bahrain’s banks had $142.872 billion worth of assets.
The $12.320 billion increase in total assets between 2012 and 2013 was the biggest year-on-year improvement – an impressive 8 percent and shows that the recovery is very real and is gaining traction although growth in 2014 is likely to be around the 5 percent mark based on results so far this year.
The banking sector in Bahrain is heavily weighted towards the ‘big players’ with the top seven banks – Ahli United Bank, Arab Banking Corporation (ABC), Gulf International Bank (GIB), Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG), BBK, NBB and Ithmaar Bank – accounting for over 80 percent of all assets so it is possible to identify key trends.