Arab Bank Q1 profit down 20.6pc

Amman, April 28, 2009

Jordan-based Arab Bank Group, one of the Middle East's major financial institutions, said on Tuesday its first-quarter pretax profit fell 20.6 per cent to $216 million.

A statement from the bank, which did not disclose net profit, attributed the sharp drop to one-off capital gains posted in the first quarter of last year due to the sale of the banks' branches in Cyprus.

Arab Bank Group,  and which includes Arab Bank Switzerland based in Zurich, however said both its deposits and assets rose 24 and 15 per cent respectively in the first three months of the year with the bank maintaining a strong 16.5 per cent capital adequacy ratio that was higher than Basel II.-Reuters

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