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Advertisers Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait B.S.C.
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A Regional Leader with an International Network
ABC is regarded as the Number One bank in the Arab world," said Ghazi Abdul-Jawad, President and Chief Executive of ABC. "The nature of our business is that we are a big, offshore banking center that conducts business globally. And globally, Eurpe is our largest market - in terms of distribution of our risk assets."
Abdul-Jawad says of ABC's objective criteria "in terms of the breath of our global network, no Arab bank can match it. The closest would be Arab Bank Ltd., in Jordan, in terms of an international network.
"In terms of size, we are perhaps the largest, $26 billion bank. But size is of secondary importance. Profitability is the primary, return is equity and shareholders profit, and in those terms we are lacking. We have issues that we have come to grips with in terms of quality of business, competitive factors, because of the nature of our franchise," said Abdul-Jawad.
Arab Banking Corporation (B.S.C.) ("ABC") was incorporated on 17th January 1980 by Amiri Decree in the State of Bahrain as an offshore banking unit with an authorised capital of US$1,000 million. By April 1981, an amount of US$750 million was fully paid by ABC's original three shareholders: the Ministry of Finance of Kuwait, the Libyan Secretariat of Treasury (whose shares were later transferred to the Central Bank of Libya) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
At the end of 1989, ABC's authorised share capital was increased to US$1,500 million and in June 1990, paid-up capital was raised to US$1,000 million through an international share offering. The number of institutional and individual shareholders is now around 1,560. The Bank's shares are listed on the Bahrain and Paris stock exchanges.
One of the reasons underlying ABC's formation was the recognition that, despite their established presence in international markets, Arab banks were restricted in the volume of their activities by their compartively small capital structures.
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Table of Contents The Al Khalifa Dynasty - Ruling Bahrain Since 1783 |
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"In terms of capital resources, we are the 4th or 6th largest Arab bank. We are represented in Latin America, we are very active in South East Asia, we also have retail banks and subsidiaries in Hong Kong, and there is a branch in Singapore," said ABC's president.