Bahrain banks report 19.2% growth in non-interest income

Bahrain banks report 19.2% growth in non-interest income

Banks in Bahrain reported 19.2 per cent growth in non-interest income in the second quarter this year, the highest in the GCC, despite a quarterly decline in global and regional financial markets, a new report says.

Based on analysis of financials reported by 57 listed banks in the GCC, Kuwait-based Kamco’s ‘GCC Banking Sector Report - Q2-2022’ found that revenue growth across the region remained robust following the gradual economic restoration following the pandemic.

This increase in revenues helped offset the overall impact of higher absolute costs on the cost-to-income ratio that remained below the 40pc mark over the last five quarters and reached 39.5pc at the end of Q2-2022, flat quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q).

Total bank revenue for GCC banks registered a healthy q-o-q growth of 4.8pc during Q2-2022 to $24.9 billion as compared to $23.7bn during Q1-2022.

The q-o-q increase was led by a broad-based improvement in revenues across the GCC during the quarter.

The increase was mainly led by higher interest rates across the GCC after central banks in the region hiked policy rates following the rate hikes by the US Fed.

As a result, net interest income increased by a strong 9.6pc to reach $17.1bn.

In terms of bottom-line performance, quarterly net income reached a