As part of Arab Bank’s corporate social responsibility program “Together” and in cooperation with the Higher Traffic Council, H.E Asem Salem, Minister of Transportation and Director of the Higher Traffic Council, and Country Manager at Arab Bank – Palestine, Mr. Jamal Hurani signed an agreement to implement road safety standards in a number of schools across Palestinian governorates. The agreement also includes the launch of a traffic awareness campaign for all road users, particularly school students. 

H.E Asem Salem expressed his deep thanks and appreciation for Arab Bank’s social responsibility initiative and for the bank’s continuous efforts towards promoting road safety and in creating a safe traffic environment for all road users in Palestine. 

In turn, Hurani praised the efforts exerted by the Ministry of Transport and the Higher Traffic Council in improving the level of road safety for all users in Palestine through implementing several awareness campaigns annually. Mr. Jamal Hurani also stated that Arab Bank’s collaboration with the council will result in a safer environment for all community members, especially school students, and will help reduce traffic accidents around those schools. 

It is noteworthy that a similar initiative took place back in 2015 when Arab Bank and the Higher Traffic Council worked jointly to promote road safety across five schools in a manner that significantly reduced road accidents around these schools.

Arab Bank Group announced its results for the first half of 2019 reporting a growth of 4% with net profit after tax reaching $453 million as compared to $436 million in 2018. Total loans increased by 3% to reach $26.2, and deposits increased by 3% to reach $34.1 billion. Group equity stood at $ 8.7 billion.

Mr. Sabih Masri, Chairman of the Board of Directors commented that despite the continued slowdown of economic growth in the region, the Group continues to deliver strong financial performance, which affirms the Bank’s effective management of risks and its ability to deal with the challenging environment.

Mr. Nemeh Sabbagh, Chief Executive Officer, stated that the underlying performance of the Group continues on its growth path with first half results recording a healthy increase of 5% in net operating income. He added that the strong performance was driven by growth in core banking income with net interest income increasing by 5%.

Mr. Sabbagh remarked that Arab Bank Group enjoys high liquidity and strong and robust capitalization. Group’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 15.8% and loan to deposit ratio at 76.9% as of 30 June 2019. He added that the asset quality of the Group remains high and that credit provisions held against non-performing loans exceed 100%.

Mr. Sabih Masri expressed his confidence in the Group’s ability to maintain its leading position and to continue delivering strong results and sustainable growth.

Arab Bank was recently named “The Middle East’s Best Bank 2019”, by Euromoney – London in addition to “Best Bank in the Middle East” for the 4th consecutive year by Global Finance, New York.

Arab Bank has recently launched a summer promotional campaign that offers its existing and new credit cardholders the chance to win an all-expenses paid trip to any destination, as well as many more benefits when using their cards during the campaign period. 

The campaign, which will run until September 30th, 2019, targets Arab Bank VISA credit cardholders who use their cards to make payments at a wide range of merchants or when shopping online. The campaign also offers cardholders the opportunity to win one of two paid trips to any chosen destination along with number of accompanying travelers worth USD 5000, as well as up to 15000 extra free bonus points through “Arabi Rewards” program when using the following cards: Visa Gold, Visa Shabab, Visa Black, Visa Platinum and Visa Signature. Online purchases with a minimum amount of USD 150 can also be repaid at 0% interest for 3 months through the Easy Payment Plan program. 

Commenting on the campaign, Mr. Marwan Saqer, Head of Consumer Banking at Arab Bank – Palestine, said: “At Arab Bank, we always seek to provide our customers with value-added benefits and offers throughout the year, in recognition of their loyalty and relationship with us.” He added: “This special campaign aims at encouraging our customers to use credit cards as a flexible mean of payment and take advantage of the associated benefits, while shopping at any merchant included in the campaign.”

Arab Bank credit cards provide their holders with a wide range of benefits, including worldwide acceptance and easy access to credit card accounts through “Arabi Mobile” and the bank’s internet banking service “Arabi Online”.