Ras Al Khaimah: The National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBANK) reported a 70.8 per cent increase in net profit at Dh900.8 million in the first half of 2023, compared to Dh527.4 million in the year-ago period, the bank said on Tuesday.
Total income rose 42 per cent at Dh2,189.3 million compared to Dh1,541.9 million in the same period last year.
“We continue to make strong progress in implementing our new strategy to build a ‘digital bank with a human touch’. At the same time we consistently pivot the culture and mindset of our company to being ‘customer first’ in everything we do,” said Group CEO Raheel Ahmed.
“Our active customer base grew 5 per cent YoY. In H1 we supported over 900 customers with home loans. Being the ‘go to’ SME bank of the UAE, we opened 7,800 accounts for budding entrepreneurs and small businesses. We also disbursed over Dh1 billion of business loans. Our wholesale banking business is now well established with strong product capabilities and is growing in double digits.”
Interest income from conventional loans and investments was up by 80.9 per cent compared to H1 2022, and interest costs on conventional deposits and borrowings was up by 278 per cent. Net income from Sharia-compliant Islamic financing was up by 9.2 per cent.
Non-interest income was up by Dh133.6 million to Dh572.1 million mainly due to an increase of Dh96.1 million in forex and derivative income, investment income increased by Dh31.7 million and net insurance underwriting profit increased by Dh12 million. This was partly offset by Dh3.8 million decrease in net fee and commission and Dh2.3 million decrease in other operating income.
Provision for credit loss at Dh494 million as at H1 2023 increased by 80 per cent compared to H1 2022 and 85.8 per cent compared to Q2 2022.
Customer deposits increased by 19.4 per cent as against first half of 2022 and 9.1 per cent or Dh4.1 billion to Dh49 billion compared to December 31, 2022 mainly due to an increase of Dh2.5 billion in time deposits and Dh1.6 billion in CASA accounts.
