Bank Muscat posts net profit of OMR185.5 million

Muscat: Bank Muscat, the flagship financial institution in the Sultanate, has announced its preliminary results for the year ended December 31, 2019. The financial results are subject to the approval of external auditors, the board of directors, Central Bank of Oman and shareholders of the bank.

The bank posted a net profit of OMR185.55 million for the year compared to OMR179.63 million reported during the same period in 2018, an increase of 3.3 per cent.

The key highlights of the results for the year are as follows:

Net interest income from conventional banking and income from Islamic Financing stood at OMR316.97 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, compared to OMR304.29 million for the same period in 2018, an increase of 4.2 per cent.

Non-interest income was OMR155.21 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, as compared to OMR142.45 million for the same period in 2018, an increase of 9.0 per cent.

Operating expenses for the year ended December 31, 2019, was OMR195.95 million as compared to OMR190.34 million for the same period in 2018, an increase of 2.9 per cent.

Net impairment for credit and other losses for the year 2019 was OMR56.13 million as against OMR43.24 million for the year 2018.

Net Loans and advances including Islamic financing receivables decreased by 0.7 per cent to OMR8,879 million as against OMR8,939 million as of December 31, 2018. The reduction in loan book is mainly attributable to prepayment of certain large corporate exposures in 2019.

Customer deposits including Islamic customer deposits decreased by 5.0 per cent to OMR8,044 million as against OMR8,463 million as of December 31, 2018. The main reason for the decrease in customer deposits in 2019 was due to a substantial increase in a large short term deposit that was transit in nature in the last quarter of 2018.

The full results for the year ended December 31, 2019, along with a complete set of unaudited financial statements will be released post-approval of the board of directors of the bank at its meeting scheduled later during January 2020.