Khaleeji Commercial Bank announces net profit of BD4m for the Q1 of 2009

Bank's businesses continued to expand with the total assets reaching BD481m, a 3.5% growth over December 2008.

Total customer deposits increased by 20.6% to BD196m and financing assets increased by 18% to BD193m. Bank's financial position remained strong with liquid asset ratio of 39% and capital adequacy ratio of 34.3%.

Dr. Fuad Al-Omar, Chairman of KHCB remarked, "Given the extraordinarily difficult market conditions, we are satisfied with the results for the first quarter. Given the market situation and negative sentiments, we have been very conservative to ensure sufficient liquidity is maintained while growing our businesses. Liquidity and capital positions remain solid. We will continue to execute our strategy of expansion and diversification of our business and customers across the GCC and the wider MENA. As part of this, we have appointed one of the premier companies to list the Bank's shares in other regional stock exchanges during the year, subject to regulatory approvals"

CEO and Board Member of Khaleeji Commercial Bank, Mr. Ebrahim H. Ebrahim expressed his satisfaction on the results and added "lower income compared to 2008 is mainly a result of extremely negative environment for investment banking business. However, we continued to grow our commercial banking business during the quarter. Customer deposits including Unrestricted Investment Accounts and financing assets increased during the quarter, which we believe are significant achievements for the bank. We also continued to expand our customer contact points by adding 3 new ATMs to our network and launching EMV compliant VISA electron card. The new branch in BFH will further enhance our customer experience."

"We expect the market to remain uncertain and difficult in the short term. However, we are liquid and adequately capitalized to benefit from opportunities that are likely to arise in a market like this."

He added.

KHCB opened its second branch in the Bahrain Financial Harbour. The branch is located on the mezzanine floor of the BFH and will be operational during normal business hours.