Kuwait’s largest bank, the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), recently reported a record net profit of $342 million for the year 2001, up from $327 million in the previous year. NBK’s return on equity (ROE) advanced to 25.4 percent and the return on assets (ROA) rose to 2.57 percent.
NBK’s CEO Ibrahim Dabdoub commented that NBK’s strong financial results were achieved against a backdrop of “an unprecedented decline in interest rates, both domestically and internationally. Uncertainties and risks following the September 11 events have weighed negatively on the domestic business environment as well as consumer confidence. Yet all of our business groups delivered better results.”
NBK is the largest indigenous bank in Kuwait and the Arabian Peninsula’s first commercial bank. Established in 1952 with a capital of one million Kuwaiti dinars, NBK saw its first tier equity grow to $1.4 billion and its assets to $14.6 billion by the end 2001.
It is the largest and most profitable publicly held company in Kuwait, maintaining a local and international network, which includes branches, subsidiaries and representative offices in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Bahrain, Beirut, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
