KUWAIT CITY, Nov 5: Gulf Bank held its third quarter 2024 earnings webcast on Monday, 04, November, 2024, to present and discuss the Bank’s financial performance. The webcast was organized by EFG Hermes and presented by Waleed Khaled Mandani, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Bank, and David Challinor, Chief Financial Officer of Gulf Bank. The discussion was moderated by Dalal AlDousari, Head of Investor Relations at Gulf Bank.

Operating Environment

Mr. Waleed Mandani, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Bank, commenced the webcast with key updates regarding Gulf Bank’s operating environment during the third quarter of 2024. Mandani stated: “Recent global economic developments have marked a turning point, particularly with central banks adjusting their monetary policies in response to evolving economic conditions. Most notably, the U.S. Federal Reserve recently implemented a 50-basis points rate cut, signaling a shift in focus from inflation control to supporting growth in the face of slowing economic momentum.”

Mr. Mandani added “On the local front, the Central Bank of Kuwait followed the Fed’s lead by announcing a 25-basis points rate cut. This action underscores the Kuwaiti regulator’s commitment to maintaining a balance between fostering economic growth and ensuring financial stability. Lower borrowing costs are expected to stimulate demand for credit, particularly in consumer lending, as well in vital sectors such as construction and real estate, areas that are crucial for driving the Kuwaiti economy forward.” He added: “Kuwait’s financial system remains resilient, bolstered by stable oil prices and the government’s renewed commitment to economic diversification through large-scale investments. This focus, particularly on advancing key initiatives under the New Kuwait Vision 2035, strengthens the prospects for local banks to continue playing a vital role in financing national development. Gulf Bank is well positioned to play a crucial role in financing these developments, leveraging our strong relationships with both public and private sector stakeholders.”

Loan Growth

When questioned about the loan growth during Q3 2024, Mr. Challinor noted: “Year to date gross loans and advances have grown 6%, which has been dominated by corporate lending with retail being relatively flat. Clearly the current rate environment has significantly reduced the appetite for retail borrowing, but we’d expect this to recover as rates start falling.” He added: “In terms of the outlook, we gave guidance at the beginning of the year that full year loan growth would be around mid-single digits. We’re on track to meet this and may even outperform subject to converting some of the pipeline in Q4.”

Operating Expenses

In terms of operating expense Mr. Challinor mentioned: “We’ve managed to keep operating expense growth to just 4%, year on year, which is very low compared to other banks in the system.” He added: “There was, however, an increase in other expenses from Q2 to Q3 due to a combination of one-offs and increased consulting/advisory expenses, but the underlying operating expenses remained relatively flat.”

Margins

Regarding margins and the impact from the recent rate cut, Mr. Challinor remarked: “On a year-to-date basis the margin is flat to last year, but we did lose a few basis points from Q2 to Q3.As I said on the Q2 investor call, the cost of funds peaked in Q1, and since then we’ve had 2 quarters in succession of falling cost of funds. The market remains very liquid and clearly the expectations are for further rate cuts. So, on the cost of funds side, we’d expect this to continue to fall.” He added: “Now, clearly, we saw the CBK lower the discount rate by 25 basis points in September after the Fed lowered by 50. So, the local discount rate now sits at 4%. We’d expect this to continue to move lower but perhaps not at the same pace as the Fed. After the local rate cut, we repriced our corporate assets and all new retail business will now be booked at the new prevailing rate.”

Credit Cost

When asked about the credit cost and reasons behind the pickup this year, Mr. Challinor noted: “The credit costs for Q3 were KD 14.2m which were higher than what we saw in both Q1 and Q2. If we look at retail and corporate in turn. For retail, the Q3 credit cost continued to be elevated but was lower than Q1 and Q2.” He added: “On the corporate side, we had an account that moved into stage 3 which had been classified as stage 2 for a significant period of time. Now, if we look at the asset quality indicators, they continue to remain very strong. The NPL percentage is 1.3%. The stage 2 percentage has further dropped and is now only 2.9%, which is probably the lowest in the Kuwaiti banking system, and certainly the lowest the bank has seen since the introduction of IFRS 9.”

Potential Merger with Boubyan Bank

Regarding the latest updates related to the potential merger with Boubyan Bank, Mr. Waleed stated: “We have first made an announcement on 30th July, 2024 regarding the Board’s approval of a proposed potential merger with Boubyan Bank to create a unified, Sharia-compliant entity, and the recommendation to move forward to carry out the needful actions to commence the initial feasibility study and necessary due diligence for the merger, aligned with the Central Bank of Kuwait’s (CBK) guidelines for the merger process. Additionally, on 17th September 2024 we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Boubyan Bank, establishing the foundation for independent assessments to ensure that the best interest of both banks’ shareholders and investors is maintained .And most recently, we have announced CBK’s approval to the selection of the consultancy firms that will be carrying out the feasibility study and due diligence for the potential merger including Goldman Sachs as the Investment Consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers as the Financial and Tax Consultant, International Counsel Bureau as the Local Legal Consultant, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as the International Legal Consultant.” He added: “I would like to reiterate our commitment to complying with all applicable laws and the instructions of the Central Bank of Kuwait, as well as the relevant regulatory authorities. We will also ensure that any significant developments in this regard are disclosed in a timely manner.”