Bahraini Saudi Bank (BSB) has announced a growth of 25.4% in its net profit in the year 2004. The announcement was made at the Bank’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), which was recently held at the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce under the chairmanship of Shaikh Fahad Mohammed AI Athel, Chairman of the Board of Directors. The shareholders of the Bank were told that the Bank had made a net profit of BD 1.88 million (USD 4.99 million) in 2004, compared with BD 1.5 million (USD 3.98 million) in 2003.
Operating expenses were strictly controlled, which resulted in a direct saving of BD 0.27 million (USD 0.72 million), a reduction of 8.6%. This substantially improved the Bank’s cost to income ratio, which stood at 58.2% in 2004 compared to 66.0% in 2003.
The capital adequacy ratio of the Bank - which measures total qualifying capital held in relation to its risk weighted assets – was 44.9%, well above the minimum requirement of 12% prescribed by the Bahrain Monetary Agency for Banks operating in Bahrain.
According to Shaikh Fahad, the major source of funding continues to be customer deposits. “The Bank has stabilised its deposit base and reversed a trend of withdrawals, which is reflected in year-on-year performance and demonstrates market confidence. The loans to customer deposit ratio stood at 61.4% compared to 66.3% the previous year.
“Restructuring efforts and other activities during the past year have culminated in the development of new business and the collection of outstanding debt. Infrastructure has also been upgraded, resulting in improved delivery of services. These and other management efforts have positioned the Bank excellently for continued growth and expansion, where we aim to build our asset base, enhance our competitive position and increase our market share,” said Shaikh Fahad.
In addition to approving the minutes of the last AGM held on 8 April 2004, other aspects of the meeting included discussing and approving the Bank’s management report on its activities for the financial year ended 2004, the auditor’s report for the same period as well as the Bank’s final accounts. The incumbent auditors were also reappointed to provide their services for the 2005 financial year.
