Alliance Housing Bank holds analyst briefing

The event held each year by AHB, aimed to inform the market, authorities, business analysts and the media about its plan and the manner in which the bank conducts business on assets, liabilities and investment fronts as well as its corporate governance and compliance policies. The briefing also highlighted plans for the coming 3 years, in terms of investments and growth outlining the bank's business plan and the areas to be covered.

Shedding light on plans for the next year, the CEO of Alliance Housing Bank, Mr. AbdulAziz Al Balushi commented,

"Year 2008 will crucially be the year of 'Investment in Growth' which will include investing in systems to obtain the best and latest in banking systems and technologies; investing in people and human resource development; new products based on highly researched customer needs; investing in expanding the delivery channel; investing in branding; investing in media and investing in the bank's customer social responsibility programs in order to give back and contribute to the nation's development. As a result, we would request our shareholders to support us in this phase of institutional building and not to have higher expectations in terms of profit and dividend distribution."

Further adding, Al Balushi said, "Essentially, we will be conservative and prudent on asset building but very competitive in our offering. Where liabilities are concerned, we will combine different types of products based on pricing, sizes and tenor."

With special focus on developing human resources, "We will continue to recruit young Omanis who have the perfect blend of attitude and positive thinking towards work and professionalism, and our average age is one of the youngest in town, below 30 years of age. For those young Omanis who have the ambition to excel in their career life, Alliance Housing Bank will be their perfect choice. At the same time, our colleagues who will come from across the Sultanate to join us in building a competitive organization will have equal opportunities to grow and prosper. We are building a meritocracy organization and the differentiation factor will be performance and positive attitude."

Importantly, regulations and compliance will be our code of conduct and we will maintain our strict adherence to regulations from the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) as well as other governing authorities, said Al Balushi.

The bank has received the capital of RO51m from its partners AUB and IFC representing a 35% stake in AHB, the split of shareholding being 25.1% AUB and 9.9% IFC. "The treasury department is working on deploying the funds in the right channels".

As planned, year 2009 for the bank will be the year of "Investment & Growth" while year 2010 onwards will be years of "Growth & Investment".

Earlier this month, AHB along with regional partners AUB, a leading regional commercial bank, and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, announced the signing of the 'Subscription and Shareholders' Agreement' bringing into effect AHB's strategic tie up with AUB and IFC.