Bahrain Islamic Bank increases its provisions & incurs BD 17 million net losses for the year 2011

02-February-2012

Bahrain Islamic Bank has increased its provisions portfolio and registered a net loss of BD 17 million compared to BD 39.7 million losses recorded in 2010. The Bank was able to achieve BD 6.6 million as operating profit compared to a loss of BD 1.4 million last year, an increase of BD 8 million.

In a Press Release issued by the Bank yesterday Wednesday, Mr. Khalid Abdulla Al-Bassam - Chairman of the Board of Directors announced that the Board of Directors has approved the Financial Statements for the year ending on 31/12/2011 where the bank has registered BD6.6 million in operating profit as compared to an operating loss of BD 1.4 million for 2010, and incurred a net loss of BD 20.8 million for the last quarter of 2011 representing provisions against finances and investments. These results have been realized during very difficult local and international market and economic challenges. He asserted that the Bank is relying to a large extent on recurring income from its major finance and services operations in the corporate and retail sectors.

On his part, Mr. Mohammed Ebrahim Mohammed - CEO of the Bank has stated that what has been achieved during the last five years reflects the right path followed by the Bank especially by relying totally on income and fees from core finances and activities which constitutes more than 89% of total operating income of the Bank, and moreover, this income is free of any revaluations or unrealized profits, besides the continuous efforts on developing the customer base of the Bank as a result of the excellent services and product offerings by the Bank.

As a result of these efforts the Bank has achieved the set objectives of developing and building a broad and stable base for its core activities akin of any commercial bank, namely the finance portfolio and customer base. The Bank has achieved excellent and more than expected results on this respect. The volume of Islamic Finances has grown 10 times; corporate and companies finance, customer base, and customer deposits all has tripled. Deposits have reached BD 600 million which contributed to an increase in market share in retail financing to 9%. Of course, this would have never been achieved if not for the Bank farsighted investments in basic infrastructure ingredients of success: to retain high quality staff, develop state of the art IT, improve services, and introduce new products into the market. All this requires big financial layouts which was the case in the last few years. As far as the future is concerned, the Bank will continue its growth in all its activities but without incurring any more huge expenses in infrastructure projects. This will enhance and improve the Bank's major indicators, and increase profit as a result of the low level of expenses.

The CEO then highlighted the presence of the Bank in the different areas related to the finances and electronic banking services for corporate, retail and government and the satisfaction level received by these customers of the bank high quality services.

The CEO then added that during the past few years the Bank has reviewed and reinforced all its infrastructure (HR, IT and electronic services, branches network, TTMs, Policies and procedures) and highlighted the continued importance the Bank attach on its staff which is reflected by the continuous training so as to prepare the right people to support and strengthen the Bank activities and operations in the future. The Bank is taking a leading role in employing and developing local talent with 97% of the total employees are Bahrainis. The CEO then stated that the work on building five financial malls is progressing according to schedule and it is expected to be completed by the end of the this year.

In conclusion, the CEO expressed his thanks to the Chairman and Members of the Board of Directors for their continued support, and to the respected Sharia Supervisory Board members for their fatwas and clarification of Sharia issues, and to the supervisory and regulatory authorities for their support and cooperation and oversight, and to the shareholders and respected customers for choosing BisB for conducting their banking and financial services activities, and to the Management and staff of BisB for their efforts and dedication in performing their duties, asking Allah-Almighty that 2012 and beyond would be successful and prosperous years to all.