The National Bank of Ras al-Khaimah (RakBank) Group has announced a consolidated net profit of Dh240.1 million ($65.4 million) for the third quarter of the year, an increase of 6.8 per cent year-on-year, a media report said.

The group recorded a net profit Dh671.8 million for the first nine months of 2018 reflecting a year-on-year increase of 10.8 per cent, reported Emirates news agency Wam.

Peter England, RakBank CEO, said, "The ample liquidity and rise in customer deposits have reflected in the Bank’s solid progress in the Wholesale Banking, Business Banking, Personal Banking, and Treasury. The trends for the nine months of 2018 are showing positive signs, and the Impairments are on a downward trend. The Bank remains very committed to its diversification strategy which is now delivering growth in net interest income whilst lowering the Bank’s risk profile."

Total Assets have grown 12.4 per cent to Dh51.8 billion compared to the end of the 3rd quarter 2017. Gross Loans, advances and investments increased by Dh2.5 billion and Dh2.4 billion respectively compared to 30th September, 2017.

The healthy growth of corporate loans from Wholesale Banking segment contributed to the increase of the Gross loans & Advances by 7.7 per cent year-on-year. Likewise, Customer deposits grew by Dh3.2 billion to Dh34.6 billion, a 10.1 per cent growth compared to September 2017.

"Besides the financial performance, I’d like to highlight the Bank’s recent partnership that occurred in the third quarter of the year with the Finance Department (Government of Ras al-Khaimah) to facilitate their requirements on cash management and payment gateway solutions. Additionally, on the remittance front, we signed an agreement with Sri Lanka’s Cargills Bank, which has further leveraged the Bank’s partnership with Ripple, our RAKMoneyTransfer (RMT) services enables customers to make instant, frictionless, and secure money transfer services to Sri Lanka’s Cargills Bank via blockchain using the Ripple platform," added England.

Operating income was Dh2.8 billion for the nine months ended 30th September, 2018. Operating income increased by 1.2 per cent for third quarter of 2018 compared to same period last year. The Group’s Net Interest Income for 9 months increased by 1.5 per cent to Dh2.1 billion whilst the non-Interest Income declined by 8.2 per cent due to lower investment income due to decreases in volume of sale of investments during the nine months period as a result of the challenges in the Bond market.

Operating expenses increased 2.9 per cent year-on-year and the cost to income ratio for 9 months closed at 39.3 per cent. Impairments were lower by Dh135.1 million for the nine months ended September 2018 compared to the same period of 2017.

The Bank’s Basel III capital adequacy ratio stood at 18.5 per cent at the end of September 2018. This level of capital provides the Bank with ample room for growth in 2018. The regulatory eligible liquid asset ratio at the end of September 2018 was 13.7 per cent compared to 15.0 per cent at the end of 2017. The advances to stable resources ratio stood comfortably at 87.7 per cent compared to 87.8 per cent at the end of 2017.