HSBC Bank Oman’s first-quarter net profit rose 91%
First quarter earnings were boosted by a write-back
Dubai: HSBC Bank Oman, a unit of HSBC, on Tuesday said its first-quarter net profit rose 91 percent from a year earlier after it benefited from loan recoveries. The lender, Oman’s third-largest by market value, made a net profit of 5.7 million rials ($14.81 million) in the first three months of the year, compared with 3 million rials in the corresponding period of 2012, a bourse filing from the bank said. The bank’s earnings were boosted in the first quarter of 2013 by a 2.5 million rials write-back of previously impaired loans. The bank was formed last year by a merger of HSBC’s Oman unit and Oman International Bank. HSBC holds 51 per cent of the new entity. Previously, OIB was Oman’s fifth-largest bank, with the second-largest branch network in the country and gross assets of $3.2 billion.
