Burgan Bank achieves significant progress in its long-term transformation strategy in 2023
Shareholders approve distribution of 6 fils cash dividend, 5 percent bonus shares
KUWAIT: Burgan Bank held its 60th Annual General Assembly Meeting and 37th Extraordinary General Assembly Meeting on 30/3/2024 at the bank’s headquarters with a quorum of 80.507 percent.
During the meeting, the bank’s Board of Directors (BOD) presented the shareholders with the financial results for the year ending Dec 31, 2023. The shareholders also agreed to the distribution of 6 fils cash dividends per share in addition to 5 percent bonus shares for the fiscal year 2023.
In his AGM speech, the Bank’s Chairman Sheikh Abdullah Nasser Al-Sabah said: “2023 was one of the most pivotal years in the history of Burgan Bank, which is nearing its fifth decade, wherein we lay a long-term strategic foundation for the bank’s transformation and development, along with setting a new vision and mission. Burgan Bank has maintained a solid financial foundation and a resilient operating model; looking ahead, we shall adopt a sustainable growth approach in our key markets to deliver on the future growth potential of the bank.”
He added: “The new strategy requires investing heavily in our operations, to fortify the Bank’s digital and technological infrastructure and to develop its human capital. It’s also vital to focus on balancing between the efforts to speed up our growth pace and effective risk management.”
The bank’s Chairman also commended the tangible advancement that the Bank achieved during 2023 in terms of implementing its long-term strategy of transformation and change. The bank recorded stable revenues of KD 222 million in 2023, while net interest income reached KD 135 million. Operating profit was reported at KD 106 million while the bank’s net profit reached KD 43.5 million.
He added that Burgan’s two key performance indicators, capital and asset quality, reflect the tremendous progress made by the bank. The bank’s common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio increased by around 270bps to 13.5 percent and its capital adequacy ratio (CAR) increased by 320bps to 20.0 percent.
The Chairman noted: “Burgan Bank continued to place the strategic asset allocation as its top priority within its comprehensive strategy for transformation while strengthening its business in Kuwait. This priority is reflected in the sale of Bank of Baghdad (BoB) and the sale of 52 percent of its stake in Burgan Bank Turkey (BBT) in 2023.”
Moreover, he explained that “the Bank worked on a comprehensive restructuring in 2023, which included many appointments and promotions at the executive management level, to cement its position among the most advanced and influential banks in Kuwait.”
On his part, Tony Daher, Group Chief Executive Officer of Burgan Bank, pointed out that focusing on investing in developing human capital is an essential element of Burgan Bank’s new strategy, as the Bank continues, among its priorities, to allocate sizable resources to developing its employees and enable them to occupy leadership positions. This came as a clear indication of Burgan’s commitment to continuously developing human capital and advancing the Bank towards transformation and change.
In 2023, Burgan Bank was awarded the Great Place to Work certificate and was ranked among the Best Workplaces in Asia, whereby it came 27th on the ‘Large Organizations’ list. The bank was chosen among the list of the 20 Best Workplaces in Kuwait for the year 2023. These rankings and accolades are considered high-level recognition that testifies to the Bank’s dedication to developing its human capital and continuing to allocate significant investments to the growth and development of its employees, thereby maintaining its position as one of the best workplaces for ambitious and highly experienced national calibers in the Kuwaiti banking sector.
By the end of 2023, the Kuwaitization ratio in Burgan Bank reached 83 percent, exceeding the regulatory requirements by more than 13 percent, noting that this percentage is considered among the highest across the Kuwaiti private sector, whether in banking or other markets. Kuwaitis also made up 95 percent
of the total appointments of last year, while women constituted about 48 percent of the Bank’s total workforce during the year 2023, which confirms Burgan’s commitment to gender equality in its human capital acquisition and development.
Daher added: “We have begun implementing our comprehensive strategy for transformation and change, and the year 2023 has paved the way for what we seek to establish as Burgan Bank’s way of providing banking services.”
“Within the framework of its new vision, Burgan Bank seeks to continue developing its businesses and services, which includes continuing to expand the customer base to serve individuals, companies, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through a wide and diverse range of products. Furthermore, the Bank’s new vision includes keeping pace with the latest technologies in the global financial industry, providing our customers with modern and advanced financial solutions, and improving their overall banking
journey by elevating it to higher and more personalized levels,” he said.
Daher stated that enhancing the customer experience is an essential pillar of Burgan Bank’s new strategy, which is why the Bank continued, in 2023, its unwavering efforts to provide the various customer segments with a distinguished banking experience by relying on an integrated approach driven by innovation in providing banking solutions.
He also added: “We seek to combine our digital transformation efforts with our firm commitment to adopting modern methods in applying the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles in order to provide our customers with an advanced banking experience that is more comprehensive and personalized. Digitization is an essential part of our strategy to achieve our goals of enabling customers to carry out innovative and sustainable banking operations.” For his part, Fadel Abdullah, CEO - Kuwait at Burgan Bank, said: “In 2023, the Bank launched many unique services at the regional level, such as Tijarati Pay, in addition to launching a new range of innovative and conscious banking cards, such as the eco-friendly biodegradable cards as well as others that support the Braille language. This is in addition to launching a new virtual card to keep pace with the transformation in the banking industry and to offer it as an eco-friendly digital option that is faster and more secure than traditional bank cards.”
He also stated that the Bank expanded its digital payment offers during 2023 by launching various services such as Google Pay and Apple Pay to enable customers to complete their payments in a safe and contactless manner via Android and iOS platforms. It was also the first to implement Visa solutions in the Central Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) region, allowing cardholders to easily register to many digital wallets and e-commerce platforms using the Burgan Bank mobile banking application.
Fadel pointed out that as part of his steadfast commitment to elevating Burgan’s high-income customers’ banking experience, the Bank announced the launch of the new Elite package for its distinguished customer segment, which provides them with a wide range of benefits and the most innovative, advanced, and elegant banking services. In addition, the Bank reintroduced its Premier package with new and better features. Burgan Bank also revamped its flagship savings and draw account, Kanz, which is considered one of the best and strongest of its kind in the market, in order to reward its customers and increase their chances of winning valuable prizes.
The Chairman concluded his statement by thanking the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) and the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) for their continued support of Burgan Bank and the Kuwaiti banking sector in general. He also thanked the BOD of Burgan Bank, the executive management, shareholders, customers, and all employees across departments, for their continuous contributions to the development of the Bank.