Arab Bank Group delivered strong financial performance in the first nine months of this year, reporting net income after tax of $405.8 million as compared to $271.7 million for the same period last year with an increase of 49%.
The Group’s core banking activities kept up the momentum in most areas of operations delivering solid underlying growth in loans and deposits. At the end of September 2022, loans were up by 4% from September 2021 level to reach $35.6 billion, while deposits reached $47.8 billion, up by 3% from the 2021 level.
Mr. Sabih Masri, Chairman of the Board of Directors, stated that the strong performance shows the growth potential and resilience that diversification brings to the Bank despite the challenging economic environment. Mr. Masri expressed his confidence in the Bank’s ability to continue to grow based on its sound strategy, while maintaining the strength of its balance sheet.
Ms. Randa Sadik, Chief Executive Officer, stated that the underlying results reflect Arab Bank’s earnings capacity strength with 13% growth in net operating income across the Bank’s lines of business. This is primarily driven by the increase in total net interest and commission income; in addition to the controlled operating expenses. Ms. Sadik added that the Group’s liquidity and asset quality remains solid where loan-to-deposit ratio stood at 74.3%, and credit provisions held against non-performing loans continue to exceed 100%. Arab Bank Group maintains strong capital base that is predominantly composed of common equity with capital adequacy ratio of 16.4%.
Ms. Sadik noted that Arab Bank is on track to deliver its strategic digital transformation objectives, providing a comprehensive range of banking solutions and seamless customer experiences across the network and segments.
Earlier this year, Arab Bank was named “Best Bank in the Middle East 2022” for the seventh consecutive year by New York-based international publication “Global Finance”.