BARWA BANK SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE INCREASE IN CAPITAL
At an Extraordinary General Meeting held on Monday evening, shareholders in Barwa Bank voted in favour of a Rights Issue that will increase the Bank’s Issued Capital from QAR 1.9bn to QAR 3bn. In addition,
Authorised Capital will be increased from the current QAR 2.5bn to QAR 6bn. The vote followed an address to shareholders by the Chairman of Barwa Bank, His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Jassim al Thani, in which he highlighted progress made over the last year. His speech covered a number of different areas including;
- The rapid development of the Barwa Bank retail network: having started 2011 with one branch, the bank will close the year with six. In addition, Barwa Bank has now deployed 35 ATMs in convenient locations around Doha.
- The acquisition of the IBQ Al Yusr retail business.
- The launch of the Barwa Bank website, increased profile for the Barwa Bank brand and some innovative, eye-catching promotional activity acknowledged by Banker Middle East Magazine and their “Best Branding” award.
- Major advances in the bank’s corporate business with a number of key business wins with leading Qatar companies.
- The recruitment of many qualified staff and experts in Islamic banking, achieving a 37% Qatarisation ratio among employees of the bank.
- Progress in establishing Barwa Bank as a partner for smaller businesses (SMEs) with more than 70 relationships.
- Balance sheet growth: the finance and investment portfolio is up by 158%, to reach QAR 11bn whilst Total Assets stood at QAR 15.5 bn as of 30th September, a 96% increase over the previous year.
- Progressive improvement in profitability: Barwa Bank reported profits of QAR 1.4 mn for the nine months to 30th September 2010. That figure has grown to QAR 164 mn for the same period in 2011 achieving 11,614% growth, with earnings-per-share improved from QAR 0.02 to QAR 0.85.
H.E. The Chairman then presented the roadmap of Barwa Bank for the next fiveyears, which will focus on increasing revenue for shareholders through selective expansion in retail and corporate Shari'ah compliant banking services in Qatar. The strategy of the bank mirrors the strength of the Qatari economy and its potential growth opportunities. Barwa Bank Group will also focus on expanding its wealth management, investment and advisory portfolio through its investment arm “The First Investor” company.
Sheikh Mohammed commented after the meeting that, “This year has been all about putting Barwa Bank on the map and a great deal of hard work has gone into establishing the bank as a credible competitive force in the Qatar financial services market-place. We feel that we now have genuine momentum and can build upon this year’s achievements.”
Explaining the reasons for the additional capital, Sheikh Mohammed added that, “Regulators world-wide are increasingly focused upon capital adequacy at financial institutions and we are keen that we demonstrate a high level of financial strength both in our domestic market and to those banks that we deal with overseas. Additional capital allows us to provide for the needs of Qatar’s largest companies, an important consideration as we move onto the development and construction programmes outlined in Vision 2030.”
“2011 witnessed a strong leap forward for Barwa Bank and we are confident that the positive supporting environment and promising opportunities in Qatar will be the foundation for greater achievements by Barwa Bank in years to come” concluded H.E. Sheikh Mohamad Bin Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani, Chairman of Barwa Bank.
