Bahrain-based BBK’s recently held ordinary general assembly approved the Board of Directors’ recommendation to distribute BD51,374,480 ($135.1 million) as cash dividends for the year 2019.

At 40 fils per share, this is equivalent to 40 per cent of the paid-up capital. The cash dividends will be distributed on April 12.

The general assembly also agreed to distribute bonus shares to shareholders at 5 per cent of the paid-up capital, which equals 5 shares for every 100 shares held, for a total of BD6,484,459.

The general assembly was held at the Four Seasons Hotel amidst strict preventive health measures in line with the directions of the esteemed government and the Ministry of Health regarding preventing the spread of the Coronavirus in Bahrain. The meeting took place in two separate halls via video conferencing, and chairs inside the two halls were arranged relatively far from each other. At the same time, the bank took all related sterilization and protection measures.

Murad Ali Murad, chairman of BBK, said: “BBK was able to achieve another year of profitability, sustainable growth, and good performance despite the great challenges that were presented last year in conditions of regional and global instability and declining oil prices. BBK enters the year 2020 more determined to face the challenges that were exacerbated by the spread of the Coronavirus that has taken a heavy toll on business and deepened the fiscal deficit.”

“The continuous decline of oil prices, the reduction of the federal interest rate, the increase in the state budget’s deficits and the accompanying increase in debts all continue to be a serious concern.

“Focusing on core banking activities along with consistent performance, taking a proactive risk management approach and commitment to strategic goals resulted in the delivery of another record performance growth of 12.4 per cent.

“This is in addition to an improvement of the diluted earnings per share for the year ended 31 Dec 2019, which was enhanced and reached 59 fils, total assets recorded an increase of 7.9 per cent or BD283 million over 2018, while customer deposits remained at a healthy position of BD2,170 million by end of 2019, leading to a good level of loans to customer deposits ratio of 77 per cent. Due to active risk management and recovery efforts, the net provision for impairments for the year was reduced to BD19.0 million,” Murad added.

BBK’s chief executive Reyadh Sater, said that BBK is aggressively pursuing its strategic goals, as during the year 2019 the bank distributed interim cash dividends of 10 fils per share, and the bank successfully converted BD86.1 million.

Sater indicated the bank’s commitment to its social responsibility, as during the year 2019 the appropriated amount of BD1.6 million out of the 2018 net profit was distributed as donations to many of non-profit organizations. In addition to that the dedicated fund to support future CSR mega projects that BBK established in 2012, grew to BD2.885 million during 2019.

“As part of its efforts to improve digitalization, BBK was the first bank to introduce the new contactless debit cards, we launched a 24/7 Virtual Assistant and an electronic remittance service, we also signed an agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS), and recently opened the first “smart branch” in Bahrain City Centre Mall,” Sater said. – TradeArabia News Service