Sharjah 24: His Excellency Abdul Rahman Al Owais, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB), chaired the SIB's annual general assembly meeting (AGM), held in person at the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry building, and electronically via remote communication technology.
The assembly adopted the decision to distribute cash dividends to shareholders at a rate of 10% of the company's capital, equivalent to 323.5 million Dirhams, based on the proposal submitted by the board of directors, confirming the SIB's commitment to providing sustainable returns to its shareholders. The AGM also approved the proposal to reward board members, adopted the appointment of auditors for the year 2024, and appointed Dr. Abdulrahman Abdullah Al Saadi as a member of the internal Sharia Supervisory Committee, in addition to a set of other decisions.
Members of the board of directors of Sharjah Islamic Bank, representatives from the Securities and Commodities Authority, and representatives from the Sharjah Economic Development Department, as well as many of the SIB's shareholders, attended the meeting.
Enhancing the financial position's strength through flexibility and competitiveness
In his speech to the shareholders, His Excellency Abdul Rahman Al Owais, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB), reviewed the key results from the annual report for the year 2023, which revealed that the bank maintained its strong financial position thanks to its strategy characterized by flexibility and adaptability to face the challenges of the continuous rise in global interest rates and inflation rates, in addition to the increasing banking competition. He pointed out that this growing success confirms the effectiveness of the policies adopted by the bank, which have resulted in a strong financial performance and steady growth year after year.
Efforts that embody the aspirations and directives of the leadership
His Excellency Abdul Rahman Al Owais, noted that the continuous achievements of the SIB crown the efforts made in embodying the vision and aspirations of the wise leadership, supporting the national agenda and the strategic goals of the state, with the aim of building a competitive knowledge-based economy founded on innovation and risk management. This serves as a strong incentive to continue contributing to the establishment of a robust digital economy, expanding digital services according to the highest and best standards, to lay the supporting foundation for the continued growth of the banking sector, and to realize the far-sighted and ambitious plans of the United Arab Emirates, to become a leader in the financial sector, not only at the regional level but also globally.
Significant Government Support
Al Owais expressed the gratitude of the President and members of the Board of Directors to His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, for his generous and ongoing support to the economic movement in Sharjah. This followed by the supervision of H.H. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah.
He also expressed his deep appreciation to all the customers and stakeholders for their support of the SIB, and he valued the efforts of the members of the Board of Directors, the senior management team, the various committees, and all the employees.
851.5 million in net profit, and operating profits jump to 1.3 billion
In detail, His Excellency Abdul Rahman Al Owais explained that the audited financial statements for the year 2023 show that the SIB achieved net profits of AED 851.5 million, an increase of 31% compared to AED 650.9 million in 2022. He added that net operating profits saw an increase of 29% to reach AED 1.3 billion, compared to AED 1.0 billion for the previous year.
Al Owais continued: The growth in net profits reflects the strong performance across all the SIB's business facets, where the net income generated from financing and investment products witnessed a notable increase of 20% reaching AED 1.5 billion, and an increase of AED 239.6 million compared with the same period of the previous year, 2022, where it amounted to AED 1.2 billion. He added that net income earned from fees, commissions, investments, and other revenues saw a rise of 32%, reaching AED 522.1 million, compared to AED 395.8 million for the same period of 2022.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sharjah Islamic Bank said: General and administrative expenses witnessed an increase of 12% reaching AED 684.5 million in 2023, compared with total expenses that amounted to AED 610.8 million in the previous year
Effective Expense and Resource Management Policy
He pointed out that Sharjah Islamic Bank was able to improve and enhance the expense to income ratio (efficiency ratio) from 38% in the previous year to 35% this year, which demonstrates the SIB's effective policy in managing expenses and resources. In the face of ongoing operational challenges arising from prevailing global economic conditions, the SIB continued its commitment to its proactive policy of risk management and hedging against any potential future risks and continued to bolster its provisions for impairment losses which reached AED 439.0 million, an increase of 26.4% compared with an amount of AED 347.4 million the previous year.
Expanding the customer base
He added by saying: In terms of the balance sheet, the SIB's total assets achieved growth of 11% to reach AED 65.9 billion as of December 31, 2023, compared to AED 59.1 billion for the previous year. At the same time, it succeeded in attracting a large volume of customer deposits, which witnessed a remarkable growth of 14.4% amounting to AED 5.7 billion. The total deposits reached AED 45.2 billion, compared with a total of AED 39.5 billion on December 31, 2022.
Al Owais praised the SIB's success in maintaining a strong liquidity rate as a strategic priority to bolster its financial position, with liquid assets amounting to AED 13.7 billion, representing 21% of total assets. Moreover, the financing-to-deposits ratio reached 73%, which collectively confirms the solidity of the bank's financial position and good liquidity management.
In the same context, His Excellency mentioned that the performance indicators showed the SIB's success in diversifying its financing portfolio across various economic sectors, with total investments in Islamic finance amounting to AED 33.0 billion, an increase of 8% compared to the end of the previous year, which was AED 30.7 billion. This includes the bank's strong capital base, which is reflected by the total shareholders' equity amounting to AED 8.1 billion as of the end of 2023, representing 12% of the SIB's total assets, contributing to the stability of the capital adequacy ratio according to Basel III standards at 18.87%.
The decisions of the meeting included the assembly's ratification of the Board of Directors' report on the SIB's activity and its financial position for the past year, listening to the auditors' report and the report of the internal Sharia supervision committee for the same fiscal year ending on 31/12/2023 and ratifying them, discussing and approving the company's balance sheet and the profit and loss account for 2023, as well as the assembly's approval of absolving the members of the Board of Directors and the auditors for the year that ended.
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