ShareKUWAIT: Boubyan Bank maintained its outstanding financial results as the bank recorded KD 41.3 million in net profits during H1 of this year at a growth rate of 25 percent compared with past year while the earnings per share amounted to 9.65 fils. Boubyan Bank’s Vice-Chairman & Group Chief Executive Officer Adel Al-Majed stated: “Thanks to Almighty Allah, we finished H1 of this year with positive results, which are the fruit of our successful expansion plans and the increase in our market share, in addition to our diversified offerings and innovation to achieve sustainable growth based on clear bases and approach.”
“Through well-studied steps, Boubyan managed to be among the early Islamic financial institutions to consider digital transformation to be the fulcrum of regional expansion and the upgrade of the digital infrastructure, thus driving Boubyan’s digital products and services towards new regional markets, and achieving more growth to reinforce its leadership and status as a leading digital Islamic financial institution,” he added. Al-Majed thanked the executive management for their efforts as well as all bank’s staff who are highly professional. He went on to recognize their efforts towards achieving the best results and positive indicators across all areas, making this year a special year in Boubyan’s journey, especially with additional expansion plans.
Positive results and continued strong performance Al-Majed highlighted the most significant numbers recorded by the bank during the first half of this year where the total of customers’ deposits grew by 9 percent to reach KD 6.2 billion, while the financing portfolio grew by 6 percent to reach KD 6.1 billion, and operating income grew by 7 percent to reach KD 109.2 million. Speaking of the bank’s market shares, the bank’s share of local financing increased overall to 11.51 percent approximately. The first half of this year witnessed the launch of the bank’s new brand identity titled “Imagine the possibilities”. The launch is aligned with the bank’s success and achievements over the past years as well as its ambitions for the future.
The rebranding process aimed to keep up with our growth, while expressing the bank’s ambition and passion to build a strong relationship with customers, and to refresh our messages to various segments of customers and stakeholders and, thus, we updated our logo, our mission, vision, and Boubyan core values. The bank continued receiving international awards and recognitions from many entities led by Euromoney, Global Finance, and Service Hero, which reinforce the strength of the bank and its continued leadership despite the fierce competition. Moreover, the bank received many awards such as the “World’s Best Islamic Retail Bank” for 2023 as a part of GF’s awards to banks in Kuwait, the region, and worldwide.
This highlights the ongoing efforts of the bank towards improving its banking services, reiterated by receiving the awards for the Best Islamic Bank in Kuwait and the World’s Best Islamic Bank for CSR. Additionally, Boubyan joined the annual list of Forbes Top 100 Listed Companies in the Middle East, which crowns a decade full of achievements and successes that drove the bank to be on the list that includes many names in various economic sectors. To complement the group of awards and international rankings Boubyan has been receiving since the beginning of this year, the bank received two awards from Service Hero, the international consumer-driven customer satisfaction index.
The bank was named the Best Islamic Bank in Customer Service for the 13th year in a row since 2010, in addition to receiving the First Place Award in Customer Service as a Country Winner across all economic sectors in Kuwait. Nomo Bank and expansion overseas During H1 of this year, the bank continued laying the foundation for its regional expansions as Nomo, a Boubyan Bank Group company, inked a new partnership with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank “ADCB” and Al-Hilal Digital Bank to give their UAE customers the ability to benefit from the innovative services and solutions of Nomo Bank through ADCB - Nomo and Al-Hilal Nomo Apps.
Nomo continues to leave its mark on the Islamic digital banking sector through the recent launch of many products such as the sharia-compliant property finance product, which allows all customers in the Middle East to own properties in the United Kingdom in a major step towards employing the digital bank’s services in providing easier, more convenient, and secure property finance solutions. Corporate banking... Outstanding solutions Ever since the beginning of 2023, the corporate banking line at Boubyan Bank has been witnessing the launch of a group of innovative digital solutions to support various local economic sectors, and to encourage economic and commercial growth; these solutions include the smart supply chain finance platform and the new corporate credit cards’ services package (Boubyan Visa Platinum).
The supply chain finance platform is a new service offered for the first time in the local market for instant collection of commercial receivables of suppliers and extension of payment terms for buyers, giving customers the chance to generate revenue from such payments through integrated digital solutions. As for the unique smart banking solutions and new services of the corporate credit card (Boubyan Visa Platinum), the card is completely designed to enable our corporate customers to manage their cards and facilitate their collections and payments in an easy and innovative manner anytime, anywhere, while maintaining the highest data and information security and safety levels.
CSR & sustainability Over the past period, Boubyan managed to reinforce its leadership in CSR and its sustainable role through many social events and initiatives that highlighted the bank’s domestic and international excellence. The past period represented a milestone in the bank’s ongoing CSR journey, and it reinforced the bank’s social leadership in Kuwait, which is always targeted by the bank, and which is of no less importance than the banking role of the institution. Sustainability and CSR represent an integral part of Boubyan’s ongoing commitment and efforts as a part of a strategy to deliver specific messages to various segments of the society through the bank’s various contributions, volunteer and charitable efforts, which benefit everybody and give them a helping hand, ultimately making Boubyan a role model to follow in CSR and sustainability.
Furthermore, Boubyan Bank released its 3rd Sustainability Report titled “Towards a Cleaner and Brighter Future”, which reflects on Boubyan Bank’s Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) journey, which is aligned with the New Kuwait Vision 2035. The bank continued supporting its human resources since they represent the main pillar for all its achievements. This was made through unique training strategies, academies, and programs, in addition to international certifications to sharpen their educational and practical skillsets and to increase their expertise so that they may benefit themselves, which would be reflected on customer service at Boubyan Bank. Expanding the branches network Boubyan Bank always stresses that it is closer to its customers, especially in light of increasing its investment in digital services.
During this year, Boubyan Bank inaugurated a number of new branches, bringing the number of branches across Kuwait to 48, which comes as a part of the strategy of geographic presence, and expansion in offering banking services and solutions using the latest digital technologies. The new branches (Al-Daiyea Branch, Al-Khiran Outlet Mall Branch, and Abu Fatera Branch) are modern, and they offer the latest technologies, thus offering a unique experience and service level to maintain Boubyan Bank’s leadership and ability to keep up with the ongoing developments in the Islamic banking industry.
Highlights In an attempt by the bank to provide customers with unique banking experiences, this year saw Boubyan Bank’s launch of its new Premium Account, which is a custom-tailored product to its affluent customers, bringing them unique services and products that meet their daily needs and make it easier inside and outside Kuwait.
2nd Highlight For the third consecutive year, the bank supports CBK and KBA’s Be Aware Campaign “Diraya” to spread awareness about many banking matters among citizens and residents. This comes in line with the bank’s CSR efforts.
3rd Highlight Boubyan Bank celebrated the graduation of 45 of its employees from various training programs of professional certifications approved by The London Institute of Banking & Finance. Additionally, a group of employees received approved certifications from Harvard Business School in collaboration with IBS.
4th Highlight Brand Finance - the international brand-valuation consultancy - ranked Boubyan Bank on the list of the top 10 most valuable and strongest Kuwaiti brands in terms of valuation for 2023, in addition to naming the bank the “fastest growing” at a growth rate of 33 percent and improving Boubyan’s ranking to “AA-” based on its strong financial performance and expectations for future growth against specific standards.
5th Highlight The bank’s New Data Center received the “Tier III Gold Certification of Operational Sustainability” from Uptime Institute, the international institute specialized in certification of international data and information centers. Boubyan Data Center has previously earned the Tier III Design Certification, for design of data centers worldwide in 2020, in addition to the Tier III Constructed Facility Certification, for actual implementation and operation in 2022 from the same entity.
