Boubyan Bank Records KD 70 Million in Operating Profits, and Allocates KD 46 Million as Precautionary Provisions for the nine month  ended  September 2020   

Al-Majed: Returning to Our Normal Life with the Necessary Precautions Boosts Our Optimism towards Better Results 

Boubyan Bank has announced KD 70 million in operating profits for the nine months ended September 2020, despite the exceptional situation the world and Kuwait are going through due to t‏he unprecedented repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic that swept the globe over the past months, leading to negative effects on the global and local economy. 

Moreover, the bank continued its prudent approach by allocating KD 46 million in provisions, thereby ending the period with KD 23.2 million in net profits. 

Mr. Adel Abdul Wahab Al-Majed, the Bank’s Vice-Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, commented: “Despite the circumstances we have been going through during this year, the 3rd quarter was better than the second quarter since we have witnessed a gradual return to our normal lives in many aspects while economic sectors started to recover gradually.”

“As we continue our return to normal life while complying with the necessary health precautions, our optimism grows stronger, and this will reflect positively on the various sectors of our local economy.”, he added. 
He went on to add: “However, we had to allocate additional precautionary provisions to strengthen the bank’s financial position, and to bolster our ability to face any future repercussions of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, which is normal as a result of this unprecedented crisis; a first of its kind in our modern world.”  

Speaking on the financial results, Al-Majed stated: “The bank has recorded high growth rates, supported by the increase in the number of the bank’s customers in Kuwait in addition to the acquisition of the Bank of London and the Middle East during the first quarter of this year. The consolidated assets of Boubyan Bank Group as of September end grew by 25% to reach KD 6.3 billion. Also, the customers’ deposits grew by 24% to reach KD 5.1 billion, while the financing portfolio grew by 28% to reach KD 4.6 billion, and the operating income grew by 13% to reach KD 123 million.”

A Promising Start 

On the other hand, Al-Majed stated: “This month witnessed a promising start as Boubyan Bank participated under the Islamic financing tranche, in the KD 1 billion syndicated credit facilities agreement arranged by Kuwait Finance House and the National Bank of Kuwait to finance Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, where the bank’s contribution amounted to KD 60 million."

It is worth mentioning that Boubyan Bank succeeded regionally & internationally at the beginning of this year in offering its debut unsecured sukuk under the umbrella of a sukuk program with total bids amounting to USD 4.6 billion approximately, i.e., the issuance was oversubscribed by more than six-fold over the targeted amount (i.e., USD 750 million), with the sukuk subsequently listed on the Irish Stock Exchange.”

During Q1 of this year, Boubyan Bank announced its acquisition of additional shares in the Bank of London and the Middle East “BLME”, amounting to 45.25% approximately. Accordingly, total holding grew to approximately 71.08% of BLME’s ordinary issued shares after adding the shares already owned by Boubyan Bank Group. 

Boubyan Bank during the Covid-19 Crisis  

Moreover, Al-Majed highlighted the most significant initiatives of the bank during the crisis caused by the outbreak of Covid-19, starting with the bank’s contribution to the KD 10 million fund established by the Central Bank of Kuwait, and co-funded by Kuwaiti banks, to support the government’s efforts to fight the Covid-19 outbreak.

Also, the bank dedicated all its resources in implementing the resolution of deferring all the installments of financing and credit cards for all customers in addition to deferring the installments of SMEs for a six-month period effective April 2020, without charging any additional profits or other charges for the deferral period. 

Al-Majed stated: “During this crisis, we reaped the fruit of our investment in our digital banking services. Since the beginning of the crisis, we noticed the growing usage of our digital banking services by our customers whether through the bank’s website or through the bank’s mobile App.”

“Without delving into details of the services and products available to our customers via our website or our mobile banking App, customers can now perform many of their banking transactions while staying at home with no need to visit the branches, especially during curfew times.”, he added. 

In April, the bank started receiving applications for concessional financing announced by CBK as a part of the stimulus package to support corporate & SMEs' customers impacted by the ongoing crisis. 

All financing procedures are easily and smoothly processed electronically, while ensuring the confidentiality of information and data, thereby meeting the objectives of CBK to facilitate and accelerate access to financing to the specific sectors included within the economic stimulus package.

This step aims at supporting vital sectors, and activities which add value to the Kuwaiti economy, and which were efficiently operational before the crisis, while working hand-in-hand with the Central Bank of Kuwait and other bodies to prevent any exacerbation of the situation by turning from a liquidity crisis to a solvency crisis, to maintain the national manpower and the circular flow of funds between economic sectors.

Al-Majed thanked all entities that managed the crisis, especially frontliners, and thanked CBK as well for the measures taken by it, which alleviated the severity of the crisis.

Remarkable Awards 

“Furthermore, Boubyan Bank has continued to top the pyramid of customer service in Kuwait, supported by earning two awards from Service Hero, the international consumer-driven customer satisfaction index. The bank received the First Place Award in Customer Service as a Country Winner, for the fifth time in addition to being named the Best Islamic Bank in Customer Service for the tenth year in a row since 2010. Additionally, the bank received the Decade's Award for the best Islamic bank.”, Al-Majed noted.  

Moreover, the bank was named the Best Islamic Bank in Kuwait in 2019 by Global Finance for the fourth consecutive year in addition to earning other awards from other organizations.