ShareKUWAIT: Boubyan Bank has announced operating profits of approximately KD 79 million during the period ended September 2022, while continuing to allocate provisions amounting to KD 31 million, thereby recording net profits of KD 49 million; approximately at a growth rate of 52 percent compared with last year, with an earnings per share of11.8 fils.
Adel Al-Majed, Boubyan Bank's Vice-Chairman and Group Chief Executive Officer stated: "With the end of Q3 and as we head towards the end of another year, Boubyan Bank continues to score positive results that confirm the robustness of the strategy being adopted by the bank, which aims at domestic expansion while slowly and cautiously exploring foreign markets."
Adel Al-MajedAl-Majed highlighted the most significant numbers recorded by the bank until September, where the bank's total assets grew by 6 percent to reach KD 7.8 billion and the total of customers' deposits grew by 7 percent to reach KD 5.8 billion, while the financing portfolio grew by 9 percent to reach KD 5.8 billion, and operating income grew by 9 percent to reach KD 153 million. Speaking of the bank's market shares, the bank's share of local financing increased generally to approximately 11.2 percent.
"Over the past years, Boubyan started its international expansion journey as it succeeded in completing the acquisition of the Bank of London and the Middle East, where Boubyan's current holding stands at approximately 71 percent, and then the bank announced the full launch of Nomo Bank in Kuwait and UK, as the first Islamic digital bank from London, which can offer its services to Boubyan Bank's customers and non-customers," Al-Majed added.
More than 15 awards
Al-Majed also stated: "Over the past two years, the bank confirmed the strength and success of the strategy it has been adopting since many years, which highlighted the strength of the bank and kept it in the lead despite the fierce competition."
Boubyan Bank ended Q3, 2022 by receiving a record number of international awards from distinct and prestigious institutions such as Euromoney, MEED, and Global Finance.
The bank received more than 15 awards in various areas such as digital services, creativity and innovation, CSR, and SMEs' support. The bank was also named the World's Best Islamic Digital Bank for the eighth consecutive year by Global Finance. Al-Majed was also recognized this year as he was named "Arab Banker of the Year 2021", making him the first Kuwaiti banker ever to receive the highest recognition given by the Union of Arab Banks for excellent achievers in the Arab financial and banking business.
The safest bank
Boubyan Bank managed to make a new accomplishment that adds to its recent achievements by advancing to the 4th rank in Global Finance's list for the Safest Islamic Financial Institutions in the GCC. This confirms the success of the bank's strategy and its robustness and resilience in the face of various crises. Al-Majed further added: "We take pride in all that in addition to the international recognition the bank received, especially that such is based on the reports issued by top financial rating agencies in the world. Additionally, such reports demonstrate - through evidence - the bank's ability to take all approved and internationally recognized technical and legal measures in order to maintain the robustness and consistency of the bank's assets."
"Advancing to the 4th rank, compared with the 5th two years ago on the same list, is another step towards improvement and new achievements that bring us closer to our greater goal, namely, to become among top Islamic banks worldwide," he added.
Al-Majed went on to add: "This achievement is particularly important owing to the awarding entity, which is renowned for its fairness, strength, and reliance on numbers and confirmed reports. This further highlights the bank's success in its local expansion and well-studied expansion abroad through the acquisition of a controlling interest in the bank of London and the Middle East ("BLME") as well as the launch of NOMO, the first Islamic digital Bank."
Serving various segments of customers
The bank continued offering the highest levels of service to customers, which led to many awards given to the bank in customer service. The most prominent of these awards was the "Best Islamic Bank in Customer Service" for the twelfth consecutive year since 2010 by Service Hero, the international consumer-driven customer satisfaction index.
Euromoney International has also named Boubyan Bank the Best Bank for SMEs in Kuwait in recognition for its achievements over the past years in supporting SMEs in addition to the bank's outstanding contribution to providing SMEs with a foothold in the local economy by offering them many services that cater for their business needs.
This award is very special since it is not only given at the Islamic banking sector's level only; rather, it is given at the level of the whole banking sector, hence, it is an achievement that confirms the bank's leadership position in the startups' scene. A thorough assessment was conducted by an international panel of judges, and the results reflect the distinction and leadership position enjoyed by the bank in SMEs' solutions in addition to the bank's contribution to the growth of their business by offering outstanding products and services to them and achieving high productivity levels to keep up with the latest developments as regards incentivizing the business scene.
Ever since the beginning, the bank's management chose to focus on SMEs, being one of the most influential sectors in the Kuwaiti economy, and as a main pillar for development and diversification of income sources. The bank's top management saw the necessity to support SMEs, diversify their access to more innovation and creativity, and incentivize their growth opportunities in addition to helping them explore various sectors and areas.
The Business Banking Department was specifically designed to offer smart banking solutions that understand the needs of SMEs, and to offer various exceptional benefits that help them manage many banking transactions smoothly and easily while giving them access to a great scope of user-friendly banking services which are available 24/7.
Boubyan Bank Accelerator Program
This year, Boubyan Bank announced the launch of the training phase for projects and companies that qualified to continue their projects with Boubyan Accelerator Program, which was launched in collaboration with DIFC FinTech Hive.
Ten projects and startups were selected out of 250 entrepreneurs who applied to join Boubyan Accelerator Program ever since the announcement of its first launch in the State of Kuwait. The program aims at reinforcing Boubyan's strategy and its remarkable steps started years ago towards leading the future of the financial sector in Kuwait, and reinforcing its status as a leader in innovation, digital services, initiatives, and entrepreneurship.
*For the second 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.
*Moody's, the international credit ratings agency, described Boubyan Bank as a role model to follow as an Islamic bank in Kuwait and the region, while stressing that numbers show that the bank is now ranked the third largest bank in Kuwait in terms of its market share, which exceeds 11 percent.
*As a part of CBK's efforts towards improving regional payment systems, this year saw Boubyan Bank's successful participation in Phase I of the GCC cross-border payment system (AFAQ), making it the first local bank to join this system after completing all the necessary tests and procedures.
Boubyan Bank announced that the bank - in alliance with Zain Group and a group of other investors - intends to establish a digital bank under the umbrella of the Central Bank of Kuwait, and an application was already submitted for the establishment of this digital bank within the timeframe set by the Central Bank of Kuwait.
