Kuwait Finance House profit climbs 10.38% for 2019 on higher income

Kuwait Finance House posted net profit for 2019 of 251 million dinars ($827 million), an increase of 10.38% from 227.4 million in 2018.

The rise was propped up by a 12.5% growth in net operating income to 510.1 million dinars, according to data from the bank released on Monday (Jan 27).

Deposits saw a rise of 15% to 13.553 billion dinars, said KFH.

The bank’s assets reached 19.391 billion dinars ($63.88 billion), a growth of 9.1% from the end of 2018.

KFH shareholders on Jan 20 approved the acquisition of Bahrain’s Ahli United Bank, a move that if cleared by regulators will create a bank with assets of around $101 billion.

Kuwait’s largest Islamic bank already has presence in Turkey, Germany, Bahrain, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. Its acquisition of Ahli United will expand its footprint to Oman, UAE, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, and the UK.

Ahli United Bank’s most recently reported financials saw it earning a profit of $558.4 million for the nine months ending September 30 last year. It held $38.6 billion in assets.

AUB has a mix of Shariah-compliant and conventional assets. KFH said it will take up to three years to convert the bank to become fully Shariah-compliant.

AUB said in a Bahrain bourse filing on Jan 26 that no official acquisition offer had yet to be made by KFH.

($1 = 0.3036 Kuwaiti dinars)

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