TAIB announces profit of $17m for 2007

The Board of Directors are recommending a stock dividend of 5% for approval by the Shareholders at the next general meeting of shareholders scheduled to be held on 30th March 2008.

Mr. Soud A. Ba'alawy, Chairman of the Bank, expressed pleasure with the Bank's 2007 results. "We are very happy. TAIB's achievements of 2007 are in line with our expectations for the current year. We are confident that the Bank will grow significantly in 2008 and beyond, when the expansion strategy is implemented."

Highlighting the bank's performance during 2007, Mr Iqbal G. Mamdani, Vice Chairman & CEO of the Bank said, "During 2007, we continued our focus on the core areas of our business, even though these were interrupted by the processes involved in the acquisition of 60% of our shares by our new strategic partner, Dubai Financial Group."

At the macro level, Total Operating Income of the Bank touched nearly $45m in 2007. The noteworthy component was the contribution of US$ 13 million from Fees and Commission Income, and Net Trading Income, which increased by 155%, from $3.7m in 2006 to $9.6m in 2007. Gains on disposal of Available for sale assets contributed $5.6m in 2007."

TAIB Securities WLL, the Bahrain-based brokerage subsidiary of the Bank was able to achieve a record turnover of nearly $2bn. In addition, TAIB's Global Reach platform was further expanded in 2007 covering over 34 capital markets across the globe, to meet the increasing demand of clients in the region for brokerage services across diversified countries. 'Global Reach' is a TAIB platform whereby investor-clients can access the major capital markets of the world though one account. Through the expansion of this platform, TAIB's brokerage subsidiary was able to contribute $7.1m in revenues, the highest so far, since it was established in 1994. In 2007, TAIB also acquired a brokerage company in Dubai, now called TAIB Securities LLC, licensed to operate in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Overall, at end December 2007, the total of client Funds under Management of the Bank stood at US$ 917 million, as against $512m at the end of 2006, a 79% increase.

In terms of the Balance Sheet, at the end of 2007, the total assets of TAIB Bank stood at $474m, a growth of about 9% over the 2006 level of $434m. The bank's liquid assets, including cash, placements with banks and trading securities, stood at $254m. It is particularly gratifying to note that the Total Equity of the Bank rose to a level of $214m, from the 2006 level of $169m, a 27% increase.

The Balance Sheet continues to be strong, and the Bank's Capital Adequacy Ratio, which now stands at 51%, is more than four times the minimum requirement stipulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain. The Bank's leverage ratio, at the end of 2007, stood at a very healthy 1.2.

Mr. Mamdani concluded, "The significant milestone of 2007 was the acquisition of its majority control by the strong Dubai Financial Group, and I have no doubt that the Bank will show a robust growth in the years to come and that it will continue to command the respect, trust and satisfaction of all its stakeholders."