Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: Bank Sohar’s net profit grew by 46.60 per cent to OMR18.98 million for the first nine months ended September 30, 2017 against OMR12.94 million during the same period in 2016.
The bank is continuing with its efforts to achieve sustainable and profitable growth despite the volatile liquidity situation in the domestic market as a result of low oil prices and a decline in government spending.
Commenting on the bank’s robust financial performance, Sasi Kumar, acting CEO, said, “The growth we have achieved in the last nine months comes as a result of our strategic planning and insight into local market dynamics. Staying ahead of and in tune with banking trends has helped us create a clear roadmap to navigate the volatility of current economic conditions and maintain consistency in product innovation and service delivery.”
“The bank’s strong performance in the face of challenging odds can also be attributed to healthy customer relations driven by our customer-centric strategies. Going forward, we intend to keep the focus on developing market leading products, digitised banking solutions and expanding our operational network,” he added. The bank’s total operating income increased by 3.40 per cent from OMR53.07 million in the first nine months of 2016 to OMR 54.87 million for the same period in 2017. Net operating income increased by 1.21 per cent from OMR28.43 million in the first nine months of 2016 to OMR28.77 million in 2017. During the first nine months of 2017, other operating income grew by 3.77 per cent to OMR 17.93 million compared to OMR 17.28 million in the first nine months of 2016. The bank is focused on its strategy and on continuing its efforts to optimally deliver and achieve sustainable growth.
Gross loans of the bank have increased by 9.72 per cent from OMR1.87 billion as of September 30, 2016 to OMR2.05 billion as of September 30, 2017. Net loans and advances grew by 9.62 per cent to OMR2.004 billion in September 2017 from OMR1.828 billion in September 2016.
Total assets grew by 4.97 per cent from OMR2.474 billion to OMR2,597 billion in September 2017. Customer deposits fell marginally by 1.15 per cent to OMR1.564 billion in September 2017 compared to OMR1.582 billion in September 2016.
The bank’s market share of private sector credit was 9.73 per cent as of August 31, 2017 compared to 9.48 per cent as of September 30, 2016, while its share of private sector deposits was 8.68 per cent as of August 31, 2017 compared to 8.76 per cent as of September 30, 2016.
Bank Sohar closed a successful third quarter in line with its objectives to steer Oman’s banking sector along the path of innovation and create products that guarantee banking excellence. This past quarter gave renewed impetus to the bank’s long term strategy to evolve beyond conventional banking and embrace global trends for deploying cutting-edge technology in customer service and product development.
Its significant strides in these areas won the Bank nation wide acclaim when it was awarded the “Excellence in Corporate Leadership Award” at the Alam Al Iktisad Wal Amaal (AIWA) Oman’s Best Performing Companies Ceremony.
As planned the Bank successfully closed the additional Tier 1 issue of perpetual capital securities of OMR100 million during the third quarter with oversubscription. The Capital Market Authority approved the results of the issue and agreed the allotment to successful subscribers in line with the terms and conditions of the prospectus. It was subsequently listed on the Muscat Securities Market during September 2017.
In addition, Bank Sohar’s CSR focus remained strong under the refreshed social development slogan Sohar Al Atta, through which road safety activities were held at schools as well as generous donations made to several charitable institutions and aid organisations.
These initiatives have been the centre of the Bank’s community driven objective to fuel the growth of resilient and productive communities.
Bank Sohar’s contributions benefited charities devoted to assisting under-served communities such as the visually and hearing impaired, physically challenged members of society as well as social organisations focussed on advocacy and awareness.
