MANAMA, 30 April 2007 — Gulf International Bank B.S.C. (GIB) reported consolidated net income after tax of $71.8 million for the three months of this year ended March 31, against $75.5 million net income in the same period a year ago.
A year-on-year increase in gross income resulting from continuing improvements across GIB’s principal business activities was offset by an increase in operating expenses attributed to adverse exchange rate movements and higher performance-related remuneration. Net interest income increased by 26 percent to $70.1 million in the period under review, due primarily to continued growth in the group’s GCC lending activity and the benefit derived from a higher interest rate environment.
Fee and commission income — representing an important and growing contributor to the group’s earnings — rose 8 percent to $17 million. The year-on-year increases in the strategically important interest and fee income categories offset decreases in trading income and profits on available-for-sale securities.
Trading income and profits on available-for-sale securities were at exceptionally high levels in the first quarter of the prior year.