Economy still hitting Islamic Bank of Britain
The Birmingham-based Islamic Bank of Britain says the "challenging economic environment" has continued to impact upon the bank's financial performance. It says its loss for the six month period to 30 June 2010 was £4.3m - which is down on the £4.6m loss for the six months to 30 June 2009.
The bank, which has released an interim report for the period, says it is working with advisers to raise additional capital and recently raised £20m-worth of capital via a placing of shares with Qatar International Islamic Bank.
Chairman Mohsen Moustafa said: "The bank has continued to achieve growth in finance assets during the six months to 30 June 2010 whilst ensuring the adequacy of its capital resources and achieving modest growth in customer deposits."
The bank says customer financing increased by 19 per cent to £54.8m while deposits increased by 3 per cent to £193m.
The chairman added: "Ongoing market conditions continue to impact the bank's revenues. Despite the UK economy officially exiting recession, yields in the Islamic inter-bank markets have remained at historic lows. This has resulted in a reduction in net income from Islamic financing transactions to £0.5m."
He said the bank has "implemented specific measures" during the period to counter the reduction in operating income including cost reductions by improving operational efficiencies. These measures resulted in a decrease in operating expenses to £5m, the report says.
