NBK Posts $292m Q1 Net Profit

National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), the country’s largest bank, reported a net profit of $292 million for the first quarter of 2012. The amount represented a 0.3 per cent rise compared to the $291 million it made during the same period in 2011, but a 5.5 per cent rise compared to the fourth quarter of last year, the bank said in a statement.

NBK Group’s total assets reached $51.8 billion at the end of March 2012, up 3.5 per cent compared to March 2011, while total shareholders’ equity increased by 5.5 per cent year-on-year to $8.1 billion.

The bank’s net operating income reached $481.4 million during the first quarter of the year, it said.

“Our regional operations delivered resilient performance and contributed to the strong profitability achieved in the first quarter,” Ibrahim Dabdoub, NBK’s Group CEO said in the statement.

“This along with the strengthening of Boubyan Bank’s (47.3 per cent owned by NBK) market position and profitability continued to support NBK’s efforts to better diversify its income sources,” he said.