Michel Accad, the chief executive of Kuwait's Gulf Bank, has resigned from his post for personal reasons, the lender said in a bourse statement on Sunday.

Accad's resignation will be effective on January 2, 2014 and a replacement will be appointed soon, the statement said.

Accad joined Gulf Bank in 2009 and was instrumental in steering the lender out of its worst financial difficulties. Gulf Bank was rescued by the Kuwaiti central bank in 2008, after about 260 million dinars ($921.6 million) of derivatives losses. Its troubles prompted the government to guarantee all deposits in local banks to restore confidence.

The bank, the country's fourth-largest lender, had reported a 17 percent rise in second-quarter net profit to 6.3 million dinars ($22.1 million). - Reuters