Pre-tax profits (PTP) at three of the four largest banks in Bahrain dropped last year as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the Gulf economy hard, hammering key sectors such as real estate, hospitality and retail, with two of the country’s leading lenders moving from profit to loss. The country was also affected by the slump in the oil price.
Ahli United Bank, the largest bank in the country by Tier 1 capital, saw PTP drop 36% year-on-year to $531.2m in 2020 from $827.4m in 2019, according to The Banker Database.
Bank ABC, the second-largest bank, saw PTP fall 165% year-on-year to -$169m in 2020 from $259m in 2019, while the third-largest bank, Gulf International Bank, also posted a loss, with PTP plummeting by 568% year-on-year to -$309.7m in 2020 from $66.2m in 2019.
However, bucking the trend was Al Baraka Banking Group, the country’s fourth-largest bank, which, despite the difficult operating environment, posted a 4% year-on-year PTP rise to $289.3m in 2020 from $277.5m in 2019.
Trends identified using The Banker Database, an online database providing comprehensive financial data and insight for 4000 of the world's leading banks in 190 countries. Contact us.
