By Nasser Al-Mutair
(with photos) TUNIS, Nov 14 (KUNA) -- The Arab Economic, Social and Development Summit, to be held in Kuwait in January 2009, will provide a timely opportunity for Arab leaders to strengthen cooperation and partnerships among their countries, said Tunis International Bank's (TIB) CEO and Managing Director Mohammad Al-Faqih on Friday.
"The positive response to the Kuwaiti initiative for holding the economic summit reflects the great significance of economy, business and finance in strengthening friendly ties among countries and backing the process of comprehensive development," he said in statements to KUNA.
"The summit till take place in the right time amidst the current global financial turmoil and economic slowdown," he said, adding that it would allow the Arab leaders to explore ways to revive their economies, back efforts to achieve sustainable common development and serve the common interests of the Arab people.
The prominent banker pointed out that the current global financial meltdown had had a negative impact on almost all the world economies in variant ways depending on each economy's relation to the world economic order.
"Most of the Arab countries, including the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, have stronger ties with internal financial markets than the external ones such as the European and US markets," he noted. "Thereby, the global financial crisis had fewer consequences on Arab economies and banks than others." Faqih, in the meantime, called on the Arab governments to step in and bail out the banks that suffer from difficulties due to the current crisis.
"Good management can serve as safety valve for banks and financial institutions and ward off risks of the current crisis," he underscored.
As per the outlook of the TIB profits in 2008, Faqih expected they would not be less than the last year profits.
"The dividends of shareholder will grow by 20 percent in 2008," he predicted.
TIB was established in June, 1982, in Tunisia as a fully licensed banking corporation operating under the supervision of the Central Bank of Tunisia (CBT). In October, 1997, the United Gulf Bank (UGB) acquired 48 percent stake at the bank's issued capital. Subsequently, this equity has increased to 70 percent.
UGB - Bahrain is the investment banking arm of the Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO). UGB operates as a Pan Arab universal bank in 11 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. It offers an entire range of investment and commercial banking services from its home base in Bahrain as well as from its investment banking network. KIPCO is one of the most important diversified holding companies in the Middle East and North Africa. It has substantial ownership interests in a portfolio of 50 companies operating across 21 countries.
Faqih asserted that shareholders had great confidence in KIPCO group despite the intentional financial difficulties thanks to its strong performance on the regional level.
"The profits of the group in the fist three quarters of 2008 grew by 54 percent to KD 83.6 million from KD 54.26 million in the corresponding period last year," he revealed.
"Burgan Bank, another affiliate of the group, posted net profits of KD 69 million in the first ten months of the year," he said, citing the statement of Burgan Bank Board Chairman Tareq Abdulsalam.
The deposits at Burgan Bank also grew by 49 percent to hit KD 2.5 billion during the same period, Faqih added, while profits of the UGB rocketed by 78 percent in the first nine months of 2008 to USD 348.8 million.
"TIB has an aggressive strategy to expands its activities in North Africa and tap the promising investment opportunities in neighboring Algeria and Libya," he added. (end) nm.gb KUNA 141353 Nov 08NNNN