Sharjah Islamic Bank increases foreign ownership of shares to 40%

Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) has approved increasing the percentage of foreign ownership of the bank’s shares to 40 per cent to offer more opportunities to international investors.

The SIB shareholders at the annual general meeting held recently also approved payment of eight per cent cash dividends for 2021 after the bank achieved net profits of Dh514.1 million last year.

Abdul Rahman Al Owais, chairman of the SIB’s board of directors chaired the virtual AGM meeting attended by representatives of the Securities and Commodities Authority, the Sharjah Economic Development Department and a large number of shareholders of the bank.

Al Owais said the SIB showed strong performance across all business units while maintaining its financial position. He said that the bank’s performance remained strong amid the gradual return to normalcy and the partial recovery from the consequences of the pandemic.

“We are keen to achieve the vision and aspirations of our wise leadership by building a competitive knowledge economy based on innovation and risk management. In addition, we continue to contribute to the establishment of a strong digital economy and the expansion of digital services in accordance with the highest standards, to lay the foundations for continued business growth in the coming years,” he said.

Strong capital base

Sharjah Islamic Bank enjoys a strong capital base, with total shareholders’ equity at the end of December 2021 reaching Dh7.7 billion, which represents 14 per cent of the bank’s total assets, and thus the capital adequacy ratio according to Basel III norms reached 20.84 per cent.

In terms of the balance sheet, the bank’s total assets achieved a growth of 2.5 per cent to reach Dh55 billion compared to Dh53.6 billion in 2020, while the total facilities granted to customers stabilised at Dh29 billion. The surge in new customers and deposits have augmented the customer deposits by 14.5 per cent to reach a total of Dh38.5 billion compared to Dh33.6 billion at the end of 2020.

Sukuk payable decreased by Dh1.8 billion to reach Dh3.7 billion at the end of the financial year as against Dh5.5 billion as at December 31, 2020 due to the repayment of $500 million in the third quarter through the bank’s own sources, indicating an excellent level of liquidity.

Despite the ongoing economic impact of the pandemic and the continuation of the bank’s hedging policy, net impairment provisions amounted to Dh244.5 million compared to Dh255.8 million in the previous year; a decrease of 4.4 per cent.

— muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtims.com