ABC Islamic Bank announces 75% increase in third quarter profit to $2.8m

Operating expenses were kept nearly flat at $1.4m. Net profit for the first nine months of 2012 was $6.8m compared to $6.7m for the same period in 2011.

Shareholders' equity at 30 September 2012 stood at $234.6m, compared to $231.8m at the end of the second quarter. The bank's capital base remains very strong with a capital adequacy ratio of 25.9%, predominantly Tier 1, which totalled 25.2%.

ABC Islamic Bank's total assets stood at $1.123bn at 30 September 2012 compared to $1.047bn at the end of the second quarter.

Commenting on the results, Mr. Naveed Khan, Managing Director of ABC Islamic Bank said, "We are pleased to see that our resumption of growth coincides with an uptick in economic activity across our target markets and the region confirmed by higher loan demand from customer segments. We are also pleased that the growth in results has come mostly from core earnings this year. New transactions undertaken have led to overall higher margin income while regional distribution of assets originated in non-presence countries has contributed healthy fee income. We are cautiously optimistic that this momentum will feed through into the next quarter as well and beyond into the year ahead."