Commercial Bank International’s annual profit rose 40 per cent in 2017, as revenues from wholesale and retail banking grew and as the bank cut costs and reduced non-performing loans.
Net income at the Dubai-based bank increased to Dh175 million in 2017 versus Dh125m in 2016, it said in a statement, which gave no breakdown for fourth quarter profit. Net interest income rose 10 per cent year-on-year to Dh556m while impairment charges fell 8 per cent from the previous year. The non-performing loan ratio dropped to 7.2 per cent in 2017 from 8.7 per cent in 2016, the bank said.
“CBI’s turnaround story continued in 2017 with our strategy producing further improvements in financial performance,” said Mohammad Sultan Al Qadi, the bank’s chairman.
“Performance improvements have been driven by significant recovery efforts as well as revenue growth, expense control, and the better allocation of resources. We witnessed strong year-on-year growth in both our wholesale and retail banking units as well as cost efficiency gains through organizational redesign and changes to our size and structure.”
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The bank said that improvements it had made to online and mobile banking had attracted new customers. Its retail customer base grew 17 per cent last year while the number of new credit card customers rose 56 per cent over the period. Retail banking deposits rose 11 per cent while income from the division increased 3 per cent year on year to Dh307m.
“CBI’s strong balance sheet is supported by lower non-performing loans, stable capital adequacy and strong liquidity,” said Mark T. Robinson, the bank’s chief executive officer said.
“We have managed to increase our revenues, while decreasing our expenses, which drove our net operating profit improvement of 7 per cent compared to the previous year. This combined with lower net provisions resulted in a 40 per cent increase in our net profit for 2017.”