Ithmaar Bank, a Bahrain-based Islamic retail bank, has registered a net profit of $2.11 million for the first quarter of 2014, up nearly 50 per cent over $1.43 million for the same period last year.

The bank's total expenses in 2014 stood at $48.35 million, six per cent higher than the same period last year. This was mainly due to the full year impact in 2014 of certain branches opened in Pakistan last year, said a statement from the Bahrain bank.

Ithmaar's balance sheet continues to be stable with the equity of unrestricted investment account holders growing to $1.99 billion as at 31 March 2014, thus posting an increase of 13.3 per cent compared to $1.76 billion last year.

Announcing the results, chairman Prince Amr Al Faisal, said: "Ithmaar Bank continues to grow its core retail banking operations while implementing strategic board initiatives aimed at improving the performance of the group in 2014."

“The improved performance is evident from revenue growth across most of the income streams, and accordingly Ithmaar Bank reported total income of $111.15 million for the first quarter, an almost five per cent increase over the $105.92 million reported for the same period last year,” he added.

Ithmaar Bank’s financial results were announced in US Dollars after shareholders approved the move during the annual general meeting in March.

Prince Amr said: "Customer current accounts soared to $1.35 billion as of March 31, 2014, thus posting an increase of 13.6 per cent compared to $1.19 billion the year before. These significant increases are mainly due to the bank’s continued focus on developing its core retail banking business and raising low cost liabilities."

This has also resulted in the decrease of the total due to banks, financial and other institutions, by almost 18 per cent, which fell to $1.15 billion as of March 31, 2014, compared to $1.41 billion as of March 31.

CEO Ahmed Abdul Rahim said the 2014 financial performance demonstrates the success of ongoing efforts to develop core Islamic retail banking operations while improving efficiencies and reducing costs.

“The financial results show stable, consistent growth in our retail banking operations,” said Abdul Rahim.

“Murabaha and other financing continued to increase, and amounted to $3.25 billion as of March 31, 2014, up 3.4 percent from $3.15 billion last year. This is mainly due to the bank’s continued focus on growing our core retail banking business. Liquid assets now represent 16 percent of the balance sheet compared to 15.4 percent as at 31 March 2013,” he stated.

“Ithmaar Bank is committed to realising its vision of becoming one of the region’s premier Islamic retail banks, and the results indicate that our efforts are paying off,” remarked Abdul Rahim.

“We will continue to further develop our retail banking offerings and grow closer to our customers while we implement strategic board initiatives to improve the performance of the Group in 2014,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service