Arab Bank Group midyear profit rises by 7%

AMMAN — Arab Bank Group announced Wednesday in a press statement that net profit after tax and provisions during the first half of 2014 grew by 7 per cent to $414.9 million from $387.3 million in the same period of last year.

According to the statement, loans and advances reached to  $23.7 billion, a 4 per cent increase over the $22.9 billion posted on June 30, 2013. Customer deposits were also higher by 5 per cent or $1.7 billion totalling $34.4 billion compared to $32.7 billion for the same period of the last year.

Sabih Masri, the chairman of Arab Bank, described the results as a substantiation of the bank’s ability to continue its positive performance through prudent management and better utilisation of resources.

Nemeh Sabbagh, the chief executive officer of  Arab Bank, said in the statement that the bank’s net interest income and commissions were higher by 3 per cent and 7 per cent respectively compared to the same period of the last year.

“The bank continues to maintain comfortable liquidity ratios as a strategic goal,” he added. “The loan-to-deposit ratio stood at 62.5 per cent and the group’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 14.15 per cent, well above the minimum required by the Central Bank of Jordan.”

Arab Bank received the award of Best Bank in Middle East for the year 2014 by New York-based Global Finance magazine. 

The banks’ results are subject to Central Bank of Jordan final approval.