25/07/2016 05:25 AST
Gulf Bank today announced a net profit of KD 20.7 million for the first half of 2016, an increase of 11 percent or KD 2 million over the same period last year. Operating profit, excluding general provision expenses improved significantly from KD 32.6 million to KD 41.9 million, an increase of 29 percent. Loan quality continues to improve as credit costs of KD 3.2 million (specific provisions plus write-offs less recoveries) were booked in H1 2016, down 85 percent from KD 22.0 million during the same period last year..
The bank’s total loan loss reserves on the balance sheet stood at KD 302 million. General provisions comprise nearly KD 200 million or 66 percent of the total provisions. The bank successfully completed the issuance of KD 100 million in Tier 2 capital in May 2016, pushing its Capital Adequacy Ratio under Basel III to 18.3 percent against the minimum regulatory requirement of 14.0 percent. Omar Kutayba Alghanim, Gulf Bank’s Chairman said: “These are very creditable results and reflect Gulf Bank’s core financial stability and strength. Moreover, our ability to continue to grow and maintain our strong capital position was further enhanced by our bond issue in May, which was healthily oversubscribed. volunteer to work with INJAZ to teach entrepreneurial and leadership skills.
Gulf Bank’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) program is committed to educational initiatives that make a sustainable impact with youth and in the community. I am very proud of our record in this area to date.” César González-Bueno, Gulf Bank’s CEO said: “We are pleased with our performance in a tougher environment than this time last year. Furthermore, some of our major strategic investments to enhance our customer service and products, namely our new mobile banking app, “Blinking to Bank” and also our credit card loyalty program, Gulf Rewards, have been well received by our customers due to their superior experience.”
“Our mobile banking app, the first in the Middle East with facial recognition is a new, innovative and easy way for our customers to bank from their mobile phone through one of two methods: by blinking their eyes at their Smartphone camera, we call it ‘Blinking to Bank’, or by registering a password.
The app is available in Arabic and English and is easily downloadable onto Smartphone devices through the Apple App store and the Android Play store. We have just recently launched but already there has been a significant increase in the number of mobile banking customers and the user experience feedback is excellent. “We are also pleased with the success of the Gulf Rewards program, which has had a strong take-up from our customers. Gulf Rewards, includes Gulf Points for the fastest free flights in Kuwait on any airline and free hotel stays in any of the 300,000 participating hotels worldwide and “Entertainer”, Kuwait’s first geolocator mobile application.
This provides exclusive instant offers for a large number of retail, entertainment, and children’s activities in Kuwait, UAE, and London. In April, this unique program won the ‘Credit Card Product of the Year in the Middle East’ award from The Asian Banker, one of Asia’s leading consulting companies in financial services research, benchmarking, and intelligence. This acknowledgment is further evidence of the exceptional nature of our loyalty program.
This award not only reinforces Gulf Bank’s position in Kuwait as a market leader in retail financial services, offering outstanding products coupled with superior customer service, but also demonstrates excellence at the regional Middle East level. The bank was also able to launch other major products and services. We added our VISA Signature credit card to the range of premium credit cards offered by the bank, one more step in offering more options and benefits to our Priority Banking customers. In addition, the bank now offers automatic enrollment into the Lounge
Arab Times
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