Sheikh Ahmad Duaij Al-Sabah

KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait announced an operating profit before provision of KD 81.5 million for the first nine months of 2018 compared to KD 75.0 million for the same period in last year, a growth of 8.7 percent. The net profit of KD 15.2 million for the same period of 2018 is higher by KD 0.8 million as compared to last year, a growth of 5.5 percent.

Total assets as at September 2018 were KD 4,228 million, mainly comprising of KD 2,198 million of loan portfolios and KD 533 million of investment securities. The quality of assets remains at its strongest level with a NPL ratio at 0.6 percent while the NPL coverage ratio reached 982 percent.

Sheikh Ahmad Duaij Al-Sabah, the Bank's Chairman, commented that the Banks conservative approach towards growth, maintenance and improvement in the quality of its assets will continue in order to meet the challenges of volatile economic and geopolitical situation in the region, as the Bank's main focus is on quality not quantity.

Sheikh Ahmad continued that the Bank's strategic objectives to diversify its income sources and mitigation of risks, particularly geographical and sector concentration are being pursued. This strategy bore its fruit and will continue yielding benefits in the future too. The assets base is now well diversified with a reduced concentration in higher risk sectors and a growth in deposit base. The Bank will continue its balanced strategy and actively continue financing new projects of national importance by efficient management of risks and associated returns.

Sheikh Ahmed added that the Bank witnessed growth in all the key areas of its business. Net interest income grew by 1.4 percent, dividend income by 4.7 percent and the foreign exchange income grew at a robust rate of 124.8 percent.

Sheikh Ahmad further added that the Bank's capital adequacy ratio at the end of September 2018 was at 18.8 percent, the leverage ratio at 11.9 percent, net stable funding ratio at 111.9 percent and liquidity coverage ratio at 142 percent. This comfortably exceeds the regulatory requirement set by the Central Bank of Kuwait. The Bank continues to demonstrate its cost leadership with operational efficiency, a competitive advantage for the Bank, which continues to maintain one of the lowest cost/income ratios amongst Kuwait banks at 28.6 percent for the nine months period of 2018.

He pointed out that the Bank has made a leap in digitalization of the processes to enhance the customer experience at various touch points. We will continue investing in technology and human capital to exceed the customers' expectations by providing effective and efficient virtual services to minimize the need to visit the branch in person. Some of the new initiatives taken during current year are the launch of the Live-Chat service, another digital commutation channel that gives customers and non-customers the chance to converse with the contact service agent at the bank. The new personalized live chat service would help the bank to evolve business model from the in-person branch model to the online, 24/7 digital service model.

Customers can now complete several tasks online through the mobile application, without having to visit a branch, such as: update civil ID information, enable their cards (debit/credit) before travelling, NFC on debit card payments (tapping card) and create and activate beneficiaries. Moreover, customer can have easy access to their accounts by using face ID feature on their iPhone.

Sheikh Ahmad took the opportunity to thank the Bank's shareholders, valued customers, staff and regulatory authorities, emphasizing that the Bank's Management continues to implement all the required policies to protect the interest of all stakeholders.