The Housing Bank for Trade and Finance (HBTF) boosted its pretax profit by 12.4 per cent during the first half of this year.

Pretax profit amounted to JD 97.1 million during the first six months of 2016, compared to JD 86.4 million achieved during the same period of 2015, net after-tax profit also increased by 7.9 per cent to JD 66.4 million, compared to JD 61.6 million and that gross income during the first half of this year 2016 went up by JD 21.5 million (12.5 per cent), reaching to JD 193.5 million.

HBTF General Manager Ihab Saadi attributed the remarkable results to the bank’s successful business strategy, prudent policies and implementation of developed banking standards to provide the best services and products to customers.

The press statement revealed that total assets at the end of June 2016 amounted to JD 7.7 billion, and that customer deposits totaled JD 5.5 billion, representing a 14.6 per cent market share.

Moreover, the portfolio of credit facilities stood at JD4 billion, representing a 13.8 per cent market share.

The results as of June 30, 2016 positively reflected on the bank’s key performance indicators, confirming HBTF’s strength and solvency in light of existing circumstances.

The capital adequacy ratio was 17.2 per cent and the liquidity ratio was 135 per cent, both higher than the rates required by the Central Bank of Jordan. The return on assets ratio was 1.7 per cent, and the return on equity was 13 per cent.

The Housing Bank topped Jordan’s banking sector in terms of the number of branches and the number of ATMs as it expanded its internal network in the Kingdom from the beginning of the year to 129 operating branches, and to 216 ATMs.

With branches in Syria, Algeria, London, Palestine and Bahrain, HBTF’s local and international network became 181 branches, in addition to representation offices in Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Libya.

(The bank is always seeking to enlarge the customer base, and to meet the needs of individuals and corporations through enhanced relations,) Saadi said.

He further expressed expectations to achieve better results during the second half of this year. it should be note that these results are preliminary and subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Jordan.)