Burgan Bank Holds Its 54th Annual General Assembly Meeting

Burgan Bank held its 54th Ordinary Annual General Assembly meeting on Sunday 12 April 2020 at the KIPCO Tower, with a quorum of 82.7%.

The Board of Directors of the bank submitted the financial results achieved for the past year ending on December 31, 2019 to its shareholders, which highlighted the strong operating and financial performance provided by the bank. The shareholders of the bank approved the distribution of 12 Fils per share as cash dividends.

In order to ensure the safety of the attendees during the current Covid-19 situation, the bank undertook precautionary measures through the provision of sterilizers, gloves, masks, followed safe and social distancing, in addition to on-ground medical staff, and provided a live broadcast to follow up on the meeting remotely.

During the meeting, the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Majed Essa Al-Ajeel explained that the strong results for 2019 reflect the bank’s focus on achieving high value profits, achieving operational efficiency, and improving the quality of assets with a clear goal of maximizing returns for shareholders.

The net profit of Burgan Bank witnessed a growth during FY2019, recording KD 84.7 million (an increase of 3% on an annual basis), and accordingly, the return on shareholders ’equity recorded 10%. In view of this solid performance, Burgan Bank’s Board of Directors has proposed to distribute 12 fils per share as cash dividend.

Burgan Bank Group achieved for the fiscal year 2019 a total revenue of KWD 248.2 million with a net interest margin of 2.7% in addition to achieving strong levels of non-interest income (33% in FY’19 compared to 31% in FY’18). During FY’19, the group succeeded in reducing operating expenses by KD 9.5 million and improving the cost-to-income ratio by 90 basis points.

The quality of the assets also witnessed further improvement, as non-performing loans recorded 2.5% in FY’19 (a decrease of 20 basis points year on year), while the loan coverage ratio improved further to record 200% (compared to 168% for FY’18). The cost of credit also improved to record 110 basis points, compared to 140 basis points for the 2018 fiscal year.

The loan portfolio of Burgan Bank Group during the fiscal year 2019 recorded a growth of 1%, which reflects the cautious growth methodology pursued by the group in the subsidiary bank markets, while the focus was on the main market (Kuwait), where the loan portfolio witnessed 8% growth. Moreover, during FY’19, customer deposits with Burgan Bank increased by 6%, which in turn led to an increase in the diversity of the bank's funding base.

Regarding the availability of capital strength during the fiscal year 2019, the bank recorded the shareholder equity (CET1) ratio of 11.5%, while the capital adequacy ratio reached 16.8%.

Mr. Al-Ajeel concluded his statement by thanking, on behalf of the Board of Directors, the bank’s esteemed clients and shareholders for their confidence, the supervisory authorities and the Central Bank of Kuwait for their continuous support, the bank’s executive management for their leadership and abilities for implementing the bank’s strategy effectively, and the employees for their dedication and commitment.

In response to a question during the meeting regarding exposure to NMC Healthcare Company, Mr. Masoud Hayat, Vice Chairman of the Board and Group CEO, clarified that Burgan Bank has not provided any facilities to NMC and has no direct or indirect exposure to the aforementioned company.