Jordan's largest lender, Arab Bank Group, said on Saturday its 2015 net profits fell to $442 million, from $577 million a year earlier, after putting aside hundreds of millions to cover a legal settlement in the US.

Arab Bank agreed last August to settle lawsuits filed a decade ago by about 500 US citizens who sued the lender under the US Anti-Terrorism Act. The act permits US citizens to pursue claims arising from international terrorism.

Chairman Sabih Al Masri said the bank had set aside $349 million in legal provisions in 2015 that were part of $1 billion in provisions the bank had accumulated over the last few years to cover the "expected obligations" under the settlement.

The bank said its total profits before tax and provisions topped $1.1 billion in 2015.

The bank, one of the biggest financial institutions in the Middle East with a balance sheet of $46.4 billion, has not given a figure for how much it had agreed to pay.

The verdict marked the first time a bank was held liable in a US court for violating the US Anti-Terrorism Act.

Based in Amman, but with only a fifth of its assets and a quarter of its deposits in Jordan, the bank has built a reputation for stability amid regional political upheaval.

Masri said the bank's loans book and customer deposits had continued to grow despite exchange-rate fluctuations.

"The underlying performance of the bank was strong in 2015.We have succeeded in increasing our operating profits by taking advantage of the broad diversification of our business in Jordan and in the region," Masri said in the statement.

Bankers said while the credit provisions weighed on profit, Arab Bank was cushioned by a healthy capital base and $9 billion of shareholders equity. Total capital adequacy ratio reached 14.2 per cent at end of December, well above regulatory standards.

Total loans rose 3 per cent to $23.8 billion as of the end of December, while deposits also had grown by a similar 3 per cent to $35.2 billion compared with the same period last year.

CEO Nemeh Sabbagh said the ratio of non-performing loans to net loans stood at 4.8 percent at the end of December. It's provisions coverage ratio for non-performing loans stood in excess of 100 percent.

Arab Bank is one of the Arab world's largest privately owned banks and operates in 30 countries. It owns 40 percent of Saudi Arabia's Arab National Bank ANB.-Reuters