Capital Bank, a leading bank in Jordan, has announced plans to boost its capital to JD150 million ($211.7 million) and also distribute 13.4 per cent in stock dividends to the shareholders, which is equivalent to JD17.7 million.

The announcement came at the end of the bank's annual ordinary and extraordinary general assembly held recently after Sameeh Taleb Darwazeh, chairman of the bank's board of directors reviewed last year's financial statements.

According to Darwazeh, the bank's net revenue surged nine per cent to hit JD41.5 million riding high on interest rates and commissions, while the bank's gross income grew by seven per cent to reach JD45.2 million last year.

He pointed out that the customer deposits rose by 28.2 per cent to reach JD680 million as well as the bank’s assets which rose to JD1.1 billion at an overall 9 per cent growth rate.

'The bank adopted a conservative policy in dealing with non performing loans by taking detected provisions against these debts. Provisions were also taken with regards to the credit ceiling for the National Bank of Iraq, and the total amount of the provisions that were taken for 2009 amounted to JD19.2 million,' Darwazeh said.

Stating that the percentage of coverage for these provisions amounted to 100 per cent of this debt, the bank chairman said no bad debt will be transferred to next year’s credit as part of the measures that were taken in order to ensure the bank’s recovery and growth during 2010.

'These allocations have negatively impacted net profit which amounted to JD1.3 million after tax in comparison to JD15.250 million of net profits in 2008,' he added.

In its 2010 Report, Capital Intelligence gave Capital Bank a BBB rating, reiterating the bank’s advanced position amongst the highest rated banks in Jordan, the bank said in a statement.

Subsequent to the General Assembly meeting, Basem Khalil Al Salem was named the new board chairman replacing Darwazeh who remains a board member. Besides this, Saeed Darwazeh was elected as vice-chairman of the board, the statement added.-TradeArabia News Service