BLOM Bank published its unaudited financial statements for the first quarter of 2022 revealing a 25.68%
y-o-y rise in net after tax profit to $1.43 million, up from $1.14 million in Q1-2021. In details, the bank’s net interest income rose by 1.49% y-o-y to around $368.92 million. On the other hand, the Bank’s net commission & fee income stood at a negative $11.63 million compared to a positive figure of $16.20 million in the same period in 2021. Net losses on financial assets & other operating income amounted to $209.73 million compared to a smaller loss of $42.98 million in Q1-2021. More specifically, the bank booked a net loss on financial assets at Fair Value Through Profit or Loss (FVTPL) of $213.39 million, net gain on financial operations of $0.04 million and other operating income of $3.62 million. The increase in net interest income owes to the sizeable decrease in the cost of funds as banks lowered interest rates paid on customer deposits to near zero levels particularly on foreign currency deposits. It is worth noting that BLOM Bank recorded some $3.77 million in provision write-backs on financial assets in
Q1-2022, compared to an impairment loss of just above $229 million in Q1-2021. In this respect, net operating income soared by 40.66% y-o-y to $151.33 million. However, the bank’s total operating expenses rose by 66.46% y-o-y to $119.14 million as most banks had to accommodate for the frantic depreciation of the Pound to meet fresh dollar fixed & running costs namely owed to foreign operators in the form of licenses, software maintenance, only to name a few. On the balance sheet front, BLOM Bank’s consolidated assets contracted by 0.56% in Q1-2022 to $26.32 billion particularly owing to a 5.94% ($133.18 million) contraction in the net loans portfolio to $2.11 billion. Cash and balances with Central Banks, on the other hand, rose by 1.32% ($242.92 million) to $18.60 billion. The bank’s financial assets held at FVTPL increased by 3.82% in Q1-2022 to $326.85 million, with those booked at fair value through other comprehensive income rising by 10.25% to $47.00 million and those held at amortized cost decreasing by 4.70% to $3.42 billion. Customer deposits at BLOM Bank sustained their downturn, dropping by 1.77% ($359.91 million) in Q1-2022 to just below $20.00 billion. In this context, the bank’s ratio of net loans-to-customer deposits regressed to 10.55% in Q1-2022, with shareholders’ equity ending the first quarter of the current year up by 0.04% at $3.18 billion.