Alinma Bank has announced the achievement of a net profit of SAR 20 million during the third quarter of the current year. This shows a steep surge over the preceding two quarters; Q1 was a Loss of SAR 75 m while Q2 a Net profit of SAR 3 million only. However, compared to the Net Income of SAR 39 million registered for Q3 of 2009, it shows a decline due mainly for the increase in expense base due to the expansion in the branch and ATM network during the current period.
Mr. Abdul Mohsen Ben Abdul Aziz Al Fares, the CEO of Alinma Bank, informed that the bank is following a defined strategy focused on building a strong franchise for which a reasonable network of branches-cum-ATMs together with the easy availability of electronic channels is a must. The financial results for the 3rd quarter of this year showed a good growth in the core activities of the bank where the assets rose by 44% and amounted to SAR 23,774 million compared to SAR 16,531 million for the same period last year. The total operating income for the third quarter amounted to SAR 197 million compared to SAR 145 million for the same period of the previous year with an increase of 35%. Mr. Al Fares mentioned that the financing portfolio amounted to SAR 13,755 million compared to SAR 730 million for the same period of the previous year with an increase of 1,784% and the customer deposits amounted to SAR 6,786 million compared to SAR 783 million for the same period of the previous year with an increase of 767%; investments amounted to SAR 2,500 million compared to SAR 2,858 million for the same period last year with a decline of 13%.
Mr. Al Fares added that although the bank is still in the first operational year, having launched its business in the fourth quarter of the previous year with “Tafa’al” ad campaign which represented the first handshake with its partners, the bank has set a clear strategy including programs for providing innovative services and products in the areas of retail and corporate banking and through such programs the bank aims to actualize the aspirations of partners and shareholders and is inspiring to play a key role in the Saudi banking sector during the next few years.
Mr. Al Fares explained that the improvement of the bank’s results in this quarter compared with the previous ones could be attributed to the significant increase in operations and the progress in a number of indicators that lead to optimism in the coming period, especially with regard to the increase of the number of partners and the growth of deposits and financing portfolios, stressing that achievements and positive results in general are accelerating in a good pace and high quality since the actual launch of the bank’s activities in the second half of 2009. This is clearly evident in the provision of many products and services to retail and corporate sectors. In its strategy, the bank seeks to operate more than 100 branches during the next five years. Currently, the bank provides its services to the customers across 26 branches for men and ladies spread in the different areas of the Kingdom such as Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Madinah, Taif, Khamis Mushayt, Hofuf and Jubail. In addition, other branches, mostly in advanced stages of construction in Riyadh, Dammam, Jeddah, Makkah, Buraidah, Hail, Arar, Tabuk, Najran, Al-Kharj, Al-Ahsa and Hafr Al Batin along with the varying yet integrated online services to allow partners to access their accounts and execute banking services round the clock through the self-service channels such as Alinma Internet (www.alinma.com), Alinma mobile, Alinma ATMs and Alinma phone banking (8001208000).