Yacoub Al-Ebrahim

KUWAIT: Commercial Bank of Kuwait announced a net profit of KD 27.5 million for the nine-month period of 2016 compared with KD 25.4 million in same period last year, a growth of 8.2 percent. Fee income witnessed year on year growth of 8.8 percent, foreign exchange income 61 percent and investment portfolio income 31.3 percent. The bank continues to maintain a solid level of operating profit before provision, amounting to KD 74.5 million compared to KD 74.0 million for the same period last year.

Commenting on the bank's financial results, the bank's spokesman Yacoub Al-Ebrahim said Commercial Bank's total assets at the end of Sept 2016 reached KD 4,047 million (Sept 2015 - KD 4,035 million). The banks' capital adequacy ratio at the end of Sept 2016 at 16.86 percent is higher than the minimum 13.5 percent required by the Central Bank of Kuwait, while the leverage ratio at 10.6 percent is more than three times higher than the minimum requirement of three percent.

Ebrahim added that the bank continues to maintain a lower NPL ratio, which reached 0.91 percent at the end of Sept 2016, one of the best ratios in Kuwait's banking system, with an available provisioning coverage of 658.8 percent. Ebrahim concluded his statement by referring to the bank's solid performance which was recognized by international rating agencies in their recently published credit opinion.