Alinma Bank raised provisions by SAR 500 mln in 2017, says CEO

Alinma Bank’s results for the fourth quarter of 2017 came in-line with the budget set by the board of directors, CEO Abdulmohsen Al-Fares told CNBC Arabia in an interview.

The bank increased provisions by over SAR 500 million to SAR 1.5 billion with a coverage ratio exceeding 170 percent, he said. Non-performing loans stood at 1 percent.

Alinma Bank reported a net profit of SAR 2.01 billion for fiscal year 2017, up 33.9 percent year-on-year (YoY) from SAR 1.5 billion a year earlier.

Commenting on expansion plans, Al-Fares said the lender opened 14 new branches in 2017, and plans to open more this year across the Kingdom.

The bank diversified its financing portfolio in 2017, with growth reported across the retail, SMEs and corporate finance sectors.

Meanwhile, the investment portfolio reached SAR 15 billion by the end of last year, of which SAR 10 billion were invested in government sukuk as well as in Saudi Aramco, Sadara and SATORP’s bonds, Al-Fares said.  

Government sukuk, however, accounted for more than SAR 9 billion of this figure, he added.