BLOM Bank weathers economic storm
Net profits rise, assets increase
Lebanon’s largest bank BLOM continued its impressive financial results despite the
severe economic recession and high government public debt.
BLOM said in a statement Wednesday that its net profits in the first six months of this
year went up slightly to $40.72 million from $39.48 million in the same period of last
year.
The bank’s total assets rose to 11 percent to reach $6.48 billion while customer
deposits jumped by 10 percent to reach $5.72 billion.
Foreign currency liquidity ratio reached a high of 58 percent compared to 48 percent at
the end of the first half of 2001.
As for the Lebanese pound, available liquid funds continued to exceed total deposits.
BLOM is one of the few leading banks in the country that managed to maintain solid profits
despite the gloomy economic picture. Most medium and small Lebanese banks either saw a
drop in profits or recorded losses.
The vice chairman of BLOM Saad Azhari attributed BLOM’s profits to organic growth and
a conservative lending policy. He added that the bank’s nonperforming loans represent
only five percent of its loan portfolio.
Azhari also said that the high liquidity of the bank will make it less vulnerable to any
unforeseen government default to the payments of its debts to commercial banks.
Local banks are sitting on large amounts of government treasury bills and eurobonds. This
means banks may suffer losses in case the government failed to pay its dues on time.
Unlike other banks in Lebanon, BLOM did not merge with another bank just to increase its
market share. The banks executives said this policy proved to be rewarding because most of
the merged banks ran into overhead expenses.
But BLOM officials said that they will only acquire a bank if the price is right and there
is added value in taking this step.
Copyright © The Daily Star |
