KUWAIT: The total number of real estate loans in February was 836, amounting to KD 26.8 million, while total portfolio loans were 23, with a value of KD 222,000, Kuwait Credit Bank (KCB) announced yesterday. In a statement, KCB revealed that the total number of property loans in February 2016 was 39, amounting to KD 2.4 million, while government-owned property loans stood at 186, with a value of KD 12.7 million.

Moreover, total number of residential property loans was 45 with a value of KD 3 million, while a total of 12 loans were registered for special housing, amounting to KD 384,000, the statement said, adding that total loans allocated for the handicapped was 358, with a value of KD 3.2 million. Total property expansion loans stood at 16, amounting to KD 160,000 while a total of seven renovation loans amounted to KD 62,000.

Agreement

In other new, KCB announced yesterday the signing of an electronic link cooperation protocol with the Commercial Bank of Kuwait to enable customers to make direct transfers between the two banks and collect monthly deductions from beneficiaries of housing loans granted by KCB.

Director-General of the Credit Bank Salah Al-Mudhaf said in a statement that the agreement, which was signed by Commercial Bank's Chief Executive Ilham Mahfouth comes to complement the efforts of the KCB to expand the electronic link network with government agencies and institutions and the private banks sector in implementation of its strategy to shift towards the full completion of electronic transactions.

He added that cooperation between the KCB and private banks is an extension of the old and rooted partnership between the public and private sectors that began decades ago that contributed to the renaissance of Kuwait and its economic development.

He pointed out that the KCB had already signed similar protocols with the National Bank of Kuwait, Kuwait International Bank and Boubyan Bank reflecting its fixed conviction in the role of the private sector as a wheel of development in the country aimed to transform Kuwait into a financial and economic center. - KUNA