Islamic banking sets high bar

ABC bank is a leader in Trade Finance, Treasury, as well as Islamic Banking in the MENA region. The net profit for the second quarter was $2.1 million compared to $3.0 million in the first quarter. Total income for the second quarter was $4.2 million, compared to $4.8 million generated in the first quarter. Operating expenses decreased to $1.5 million compared to $1.8 million in the previous quarter. An impairment provision of $0.5 million was taken during the quarter reflecting a conservative higher amount related to an old impaired account from 2009. Shareholders’ equity at 30 June 2011 stood at $224.8 million, compared to $219.8 million at 2010 year-end. Commenting on the results, Mr. Naveed Khan, Managing Director of ABC Islamic Bank, said, "It is encouraging that despite considerably lower asset volumes, the mix of margin and fees have outperformed results for the same period last year.” ABC Islamic Bank’s total assets had declined to $1.195 billion at June 30 from $1.241 billion at year-end 2010. Meanwhile UAE's Dubai based Noor Islamic has earlier posted a net profit of $23.1m for the first half of the year, which is a way ahead of the Bahrain's ABC bank.