Al-Tijari declares operating profit of KD 42.3m for first half of 2020
Commercial Bank continues its prudent policy, maintains sizable precautionary provisions
KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait announced its financial results for the first quarter ending 31 March 2020, as well as, for the half year ending 30 June 2020. The bank reported an operating profit of KD 21.8 million for the first quarter and an operating profit of KD 42.3 million for the half year, compared to KD 24.0 million and KD 58.3 million for the respective periods last year. The Bank continued its prudent policy of allocating a major portion of its operating profit to precautionary provisions and ended up with a net profit of KD 1.2 million for the first six months of year 2020, compared to KD 9.8 million for the same period of 2019.
Sheikh Ahmad Duaij Al-Sabah, the Bank’s Chairman, commented “the outbreak of pandemic forced various governments to take different steps to limit its spread. Kuwait government also took measures like social distancing and lockdowns, which lead to disruptions in business activity in all sectors. The banking industry also faced unprecedented challenges in the first half of the year. The negative impact of the pandemic outbreak, drop in oil prices and interest rates had an unfavorable impact on revenue streams and net margin, however, timely adoption of various policies by the Government and
Central Bank of Kuwait are expected to expedite the economic recovery and stabilize financial sector.”
Sheikh Ahmad highlighted the important role Al-Tijari played in supporting all the Government’s and Central Bank of Kuwait’s efforts to ease the pressure caused by the pandemic on our customers, by deferring all instalment payments of personal and credit card loans for a six-month period effective April 2020, without charging any additional interest or other fees for the deferral period. Similar relief was extended to corporate customers, with deferred interest and instalments for a period of six months, without any additional charges thereon. Al-Tijari also contributed to the establishment of a KD 10 million CBK fund to support the State’s efforts to combat the virus.
Sheikh Ahmad added that during the crisis our top priority was to deliver efficient and quality banking services while ensuring the health and safety of our employees and customers. This was possible due to high focus on digitalization adopted by Al-Tijari in the previous years. The Bank provided uninterrupted banking services through the Bank’s website, mobile app and self service branches.
Sheikh Ahmad further added that in spite of exceptional circumstances the Bank has successfully maintained strong capitalization and liquidity levels. The capital adequacy ratio at the end of June 2020 was 17.9 percent, the leverage ratio at 11.5 percent, net stable funding ratio at 109.7 percent and liquidity coverage ratio at 149.1 percent, comfortably exceeding the regulatory requirements set by the Central Bank of Kuwait.
Sheikh Ahmad took the opportunity to thank all the front-line workers from across all governmental organizations for their exceptional efforts in combating the pandemic, and all the management and
Operating profit KD 42.3 million
for half year
staff of the Bank for their dedication and untiring efforts to serve the customers in such an unprecedented situation.