A study by the director of the Association of Jordanian Banks, Mufleh Aqel, showed the Arab Bank ranked first in terms of assets, deposits and net profits recorded in 1999.
The study, made available to the Jordan Times on Sunday, also showed that Housing Bank for Finance and Trade ranked first in terms of growth in its deposits in the past year.
The study included 20 commercial, investment and foreign banks.
The Arab Bank ranked first in 1999 had assets totalling JD3.2 billion, followed by the Housing Bank with JD1.5 billion and the Jordan Islamic Bank for Finance and Investment with JD757 million.
The assets of the commercial, investment and foreign banks in 1999 amounted to JD10.3 billion, the report said.
The Islamic International Arab Bank (IIAB) ranked first in terms of the growth of its assets, which amounted to 57.5 percent of its total assets, the report said.
Only five banks were included among the banks with an assets exceeding JD500 million: the Arab Bank, Jordan National Bank, Housing Bank, Jordan Islamic Bank and the Amman Cairo Bank.
The second category included 11 banks whose assets ranged from JD200 to JD500 million, the report said.
Only four banks had assets of less than JD200 million.
The Arab Bank also ranked first in terms of the size of its deposits, which amounted to 33.6 per cent of the total deposits. It was followed by the Housing Bank, with 13.3 percent, and the Jordan National Bank with 6.9 percent of total deposits.
The deposits of the 20 banks included in the study amounted to JD8.7 billion, the report said.
The IIAB ranked first in terms of growth of its deposits followed by the Export and Finance Bank and the Philadelphia Investment Bank.
The growth rate of the 20 banks in 1999 amounted to 11.9 percent, the report said.
Only five banks were included among the banks whose deposits exceeded JD500 million, while seven banks had deposits ranging from JD200 to JD500 million.
The report said that the assets of eight banks were below JD200 million.
The Housing Bank ranked first in terms of shareholders rights, which amounted to JD238.9 million, followed by the Arab Bank, JD162.3 million and the Jordan National Bank with JD55.5 million.
The report found the Arab Bank ranked first in terms of net profits in 1999, which amounted to JD31.8 million followed by the Housing Bank, JD25.4 million and the Jordan Kuwait Bank with JD5.5 million. — ( Jordan Times )
By Tareq Ayyoub
