Sharjah, 20th October 2020: Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) achieved an increase in its operating profits before provisions amounting to AED 504.7 million, compared to AED 465.7 million for the same period last year, with an increase of 8.4%, while net profit for the nine months ended 30 September 2020 amounted to AED 353.4 million, compared to AED 415.4 million for the nine-month ended 30 September 2019, a decrease of 14.9% as a result of the increase in net provisions for impairment, which amounted to AED 151.3 million, compared to AED 50.3 million from the same period last year, an increase of AED 101.1 million, equivalent to 201.1%.
The balance sheet reflects the Bank’s total assets of AED 53.3 billion at the end of September 2020, growing by 15% compared to AED 46.4 billion at the end of 2019.
The bank continued to diversify its financing facilities portfolio in different economic sectors in accordance with its prudent credit policy that takes into consideration the effects of the prevailing market volatility and instability in the global and regional capital market on banking operations. Financing facilities reached AED 29.5 billion, an increase of AED 4.4 billion or 17.5% compared to AED 25.1 billion last year.
SIB successfully attracted more deposits during the period as customer deposits increased by 19.4% to reach AED 32.6 billion compared to AED 27.3 billion at the yearend 31 December 2019.
Liquid assets stayed strong at AED 10.9 billion or 20.4% of total assets at the end of September 2020.
On the expenses side, general and administrative expenses declined to AED 403.2 million at the end of the 3rd quarter 2020 compared to AED 431.6 million for the same period 2019, a decrease of AED 28.4 million or 6.6%, due to operational efficiencies achieved by the Bank.
Sharjah Islamic Bank has a strong capital base. Total shareholders' equity at the end of September 2020 reached AED 7.6 billion, representing 16.7% of the Bank's total assets with a strong capital adequacy ratio of 21.51% according to Basel III requirements.