Bahrain-based Alubaf Arab International Bank's net profit for last year surged to $37 million, an increase of 22 per cent over 2012's $30 million, a report said.

Net profit for the fourth quarter of last year was $7 million, an increase of 37 per cent over the same period of 2012, according to the report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

Main driver for increase in net profit was gross interest income, which contributed to 67 per cent of operating income.

The bank's chief executive Hasan Khalifa Abulhasan said the positive financial results reflect the ongoing success of the bank and continued rapid growth in profits year after year, recording a significant increase of 22 per cent for last year compared to a growth rate of 15 per cent for 2012.

"The bank has strong and stable capital adequacy ratio at 44 per cent and the proportion of liquid assets to liabilities stood at 75 per cent, while the average return on equity ratio stood at 12 per cent.

"The bank has adopted a very prudent policy in provisioning and has created a provision of $4 million last year.

"While the percentage of non-performing loans to total gross loans stood at 1 per cent, the operating expenses increased by 54 per cent compared to last year and cost to income ratio moderately increased to 23 per cent as compared to 19 per cent for 2012.

"These results were achieved due to proper implementation of our strategic initiatives on products, services and markets, supplemented by controlled expenditure that ensures sustainable growth path towards Alubaf's vision and mission," Abulhasan said. – TradeArabia News Service