BIBD Annual General Meeting

ISLAMIC bank, Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD), announced that their profit for the fiscal year of 2009 has increased by 14.8 per cent.

BIBD, during their fourth Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Universiti Brunei Darussalam's Chancellor Hall yesterday, announced that after zakat and taxation, they saw an increase equivalent to $10.43 million.

With reference to BIBD's audited financial statement, their balance sheet as of December 31, 2009, showed that the bank's total assets were worth $4.42 billion.

"The profit before zakat and taxation for 2009 on the other hand, was $101.99 million, which is an equivalent to an increase of 4.7 per cent compared to 2008," the bank said in a statement.

Present to chair the AGM yesterday was the the Chairman of the Board of BIBD's directors, Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Hj Yahya Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar.

The Chairman in his speech to shareholders also declared the dividends for the year of 2009 where the proposed dividends for the year was approved at 3.7 cents per share.

The bank has a capital base of $791.05 million which provided financial flexibility for potential business growth both locally and regionally.

"This also ensures that the bank's depositors' funds are well protected by its strong capital base and fundamentally by a strong business base," BIBD said.

Pehin Dato Hj Yahya said that 2009 was a "very progressive" year for the bank, with a number of milestones.

"BIBD was chosen as Joint Lead Managers for the distribution of the Sukuk Islamic Development Bank (IDB) worth as much as US$1.5 billion ($2.1 billion). This is a first not just for BIBD, but for the country," said the chairman.

Within the same year, BIBD also managed to be nominated as "Joint Lead Arranger" with Citigroup and Goldman Sachs in the issuance of General Electric Capital Corporation's Sukuk (GECC).

"The year 2009 was also significant for the bank's Corporate Social Responsbility (CSR) with contributions to the Youth Development Centre along with other activities to support the youths, not to mention the successful Wish Campaign," said Pehin Dato Hj Yahya.

Source: The Brunei Times