AMMAN -- The Housing Bank for Trade and Finance (HBTF) announced in a press statement on Saturday that the bank will distribute cash dividends at a rate of 25 per cent as recommended by the board of directors and approved by shareholders during a general assembly meeting last week.
"HBTF posted JD142.2 million in net pretax profit in 2012 while its net after-tax profit totalled JD104.5 million," the press release said.
It added that assets rose at the end of 2012 to JD7.1 billion and that total deposits increased to JD5.6 billion. Net credit facility portfolio went up to JD2.7 billion.
"The bank achieved these results despite a 28 per cent decline in the value of the Syrian lira during 2012 which affected the balance sheet of the International Bank for Trade & Finance/Syria, an affiliated bank of the HBTF," the press statement continued.
It noted that these results reflected positively on the bank whose capital adequacy ratio stood at 19 per cent, higher than the 8 per cent rate required by the Basel Committee and the 12 per cent required by the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ).
During the general assembly meeting on Thursday, the general assembly elected members of a new board for the next term.
The new board comprises Michel Marto and Sheikh Ali Bin Jassim Bin Mohammad Al Thani, who were re-elected as chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, Qatar National Bank (4 seats), Kuwait Real Estate Investment Consortium (2 seats) Libyan Foreign Bank (two seats), the Social Security Corporation (two seats) and Oman's Ministry of Finance (one seat).
Members representing Arab and Jordanian institutions own 90 per cent of the bank's capital, totalling JD252 million. The general assembly also chose Ernst & Young as auditors, the statement said.
© Jordan Times 2013
