BisB realizes BD10m net profit during the first quarter of this year

In a press release published by BisB today, the Bank announced that a net profit of BD10m was realized during the first quarter of 2008, an increase of 92% against that of the similar period last year.

In a statement, the Bank's Chairman, Mr. Khalid Abdulla Al-Bassam, said,

"This excellent and continued performance is attributable to the well-conceived planning of the financing and investment operations, as a result of which a substantial increase in the overall income from the various activities of the Bank has been made. Further, the total assets and customer accounts have significantly increased."

The Bank's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mohammed Ebrahim Mohammed, said: "The operational income has increased to BD18m, a rise of 64% against the BD11m of the previous year". He attributed the increase to the ongoing growth of Islamic financing and to the good return on the diversified investment activities.

"The increase in the overall income has contributed to maintaining the return on investment accounts at the same rate as last year, despite the decrease in international prices as a result of the United State's mortgage crisis. This clearly shows how the Bank is eager to ensure better returns to its investors, thus, attracting a larger market share in ever increasingly competitive environment", he added.

Mr. Mohammed Ebrahim also pointed out that the Bank had achieved 191% increase in Bank fees and commissions from successful major syndications along the Bank's future strategic policy.

"The financial indicators for the first quarter of the year obviously show that Islamic financing has increased by 18% and other investments grown by 24%," Mr. Mohammed Ebrahim continued.

The Chief Executive Officer said that deposits increased by 22% over the same period of last year, reflecting depositors' confidence in the Bank, on the one hand, and the Bank's ability to attract more new customers, on the other hand.

"The Bank's financial position has gone stronger, with total assets increasing by 10%, to BD723m, during the first quarter. This increase resulted mainly from financing and from the continued growth of the overall investments of the Bank," he explained.

During the last month, the Bank distributed 35% of the average paid up capital as cash and bonus shares. This is the fourth successive year that the Bank continues distributing dividends and bonus shares to the shareholders.

Bahrain Islamic Bank, BisB, was established in 1979 as the first Sharia'a compliant commercial bank in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Since then, it has developed and, by the first quarter of this year, the Bank has BD198m as shareholders' equity, BD723m as total assets compared with BD187m as shareholders' equity, BD657m as total assets at end of December 2007, after increasing the capital during the last quarter of the previous year.