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Murad, left, addressing the shareholders

'BBK keen on buying Islamic banks’

MANAMA, March 11, 2015

Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) is open to acquisitions of Islamic banks provided they offered a feasible business proposition, the bank's chairman Murad Ali Murad has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a combined annual and extraordinary general meeting at the Gulf Hotel yesterday (March 10), he said while the bank did not have any immediate plans to get into Islamic banking, it would consider acquisitions in the 'consolidating Islamic banking space,’ reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The bank is now in the last year of its three-year corporate strategic plan, Murad said and preliminary planning for the next cycle has begun with the focus on intensifying expansion and diversification activities.

With a quorum of 83.31 per cent, the shareholders approved the distribution of cash dividends equivalent to 20 per cent amounting to 20 fils per share and bonus shares of five per cent.

Hence, BBK shares shall trade ex-dividend and ex-bonus starting today, and the adjusted price after the distribution of bonus shares will be BD0.448 ($1.1).

In a presentation to shareholders, BBK chief executive Abdul Karim Bucheery said the bank reported record profit of BD50.1 million for the year ended December, 11.2 per cent higher than the previous year's profit of BD45.1 million; with earnings of 50 fils per share.

He said the strong performance was supported by growth in fees and commission income, and an increase in net interest income.

Bucheery said the 2012-13 cost optimisation initiative was also bearing fruit as operating costs decreased by 15 per cent to BD46.2 million as of end last year.

In continuation of efforts to strengthen prudent risk management practices, the bank has amended its general loss reserves criteria to include total risk weighted exposure which shall encompass all potential future eventualities of its gross exposure.

The bank shall continue building up its precautionary general provisions to cater for unexpected future turbulences in the financial market.

BBK intensified its remedial and collection efforts last year, which resulted in significantly reducing the level of non-performing loans, he said.

Comprehensive income for the year was BD40.1 million, as against BD52 milion in 2013, partially driven by the bond and equity investments' volatility, market prices, maturities, and partial sale of investments during the year.

The chief executive said, 'BBK is very well-positioned to face challenges imposed by domestic or global markets, while continuing to serve customers with the best banking services in the kingdom'. - TradeArabia News Service




Tags: BBK | Bank | Islamic | acquisition | buy |

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