National Bank of Kuwait-Bahrain (NBK Bahrain), the branch of NBK Group in Bahrain, reported net profits of BD55 million ($144.5 million) for the first half (H1) of 2018 compared with BD46.1 million for H1 2017, a growth of 19.4 per cent.

NBK-Bahrain’s total assets increased by 13 per cent y-o-y to BD6.048 billion, compared with BD5.359 billion for the same period of previous year. While total shareholders’ equity increased by 18 per cent y-o-y to BD642.330 million compared with BD545.482 million for the same period of previous year.

Customer deposits increased by 24 per cent y-o-y to BD3.244 billion compared with BD2.611 billion for the same period of previous year.

Isam Al-Sager, NBK Group chief executive officer said: “Once again, NBK Group proves its dominance in the regional market and solidifies its leadership position through the outstanding performance of yet another one of its regional branches, NBK-Bahrain. These solid results come in line with the Group’s strategy aimed at strengthening its position throughout Mena region to diversify its revenue stream.

“We have been increasingly focused on our international operation and the numbers have definitely reflected the successful route we have been following. During the 1H2018, our international business continued to grow, strongly contributing close to 30per cent of the Group’s bottom line.”

Al Sager also added that the improved profit performance was attributable to increased operating banking revenues despite the challenging operating environment.

Moreover, Al-Sager affirmed that NBK-Group will continue to focus on its international operations and foster external growth in order to complement its local dominance.

Ali Fardan, NBK-Bahrain general manager, said: “We continue to draw on NBK-Group’s clear strategy to focus on our core business to consistently drive solid results. In addition to that, we have a very talented and experienced team that backs our operations year after year. I am confident that we are set to achieve further growth in the remaining part of 2018 and beyond.”

NBK has been present in Bahrain since 1977 and enjoys strong and historical relationships with the major Bahraini and international companies, Al Fardan added. – TradeArabia News Service