The bank’s profits were boosted by 6% year-on-year to $73.75M in the first Half (H1) of 2016, mainly due to lower provisions and higher gains generated on the financial instruments held by the bank.
Byblos Bank saw its commissions’ income drop by 1%, which could possibly allude to the bank charging lower commissions in H1 2016 in order to become more competitive. As for net interest income, it also fell by 5% to $121.43M. Byblos Bank’s interest spread dropped with lower interest rates charged on loans and higher interest rates offered on deposits.
On a year-to-date basis, on the balance sheet, total assets rose 2.84% to $20.43B. Similarly, loans and advances to customers increased 1.85% since year start from $4.91B to $5B.
Customers’ deposits increased 3.21% y-t-d to reach $16.88B in H1.
As for shareholders’ equity, it narrowed 2.98% to $1.66B by June 2016.
According to the Bank’s report: the bank “continued its policy of strict provisioning against possible credit losses, with a coverage ratio going well above 100%. The Bank also posted strong liquidity of 51% of total assets and a Basel III Capital Adequacy Ratio of 17.7%, far surpassing the regulatory requirement of 12% for end-2015.”
BYBLOS Bank Financial Highlights ($M)
| Jun-16 | Dec-15 | % change | |
| Net Profits | 73.75 | 69.59* | 5.97% |
| Total Assets | 20,434.41 | 19,870.25 | 2.84% |
| Total Loans | 4,999.36 | 4,908.55 | 1.85% |
| Shareholders’ Equity | 1,662.72 | 1,713.73 | -2.98% |
* Value of June 2015