During its meeting on Thursday, 27/2/2020, Bank of Palestine’s Board of Directors recommended the distribution of $20,400,000 on shareholders from profits achieved during 2019, or the equivalence of 10% of paid capital. The Board also announced the 26th of March as the date for the annual meeting of the General Assembly at Bank of Palestine headquarters in Ramallah, through videoconferencing with the Roots Hotel in Gaza City.
The Board recommended to distribute the profits in cash and free shares in the amount of $20,400,000 in the following manner: cash profits in the amount of $16,320,000, equivalent to 8% of paid capital; and free shares in the amount of $4,080,000, equivalent to 2% of paid capital. The profits will be distributed on shareholders registered in the Deposit and Transfers Center at the Palestine Exchange until 25 March 2020, based on every shareholder’s ownership in paid capital. If the General Assembly approves the recommendation of the Board of Directors, the Bank’s capital will increase from $204 million to $208.08 million.
It is important to mention that Bank of Palestine Group announced its financial results for the year 2019, whereby shareholders’ equity recorded an increase that reached $430.6 million at an approximate rate of 4%. The Group also achieved net profits in the amount of $38.9 million. Assets increased from $4.6 billion to $5.2 billion at 13%, customer deposits increased by $381 million, or from $3.7 billion to reach $4.1 billion, at a rate of 10.2%, and credit facilitations increased from $2.6 billion to $3 billion, at a rate of 11%.
The Group’s net profits were affected due to the creation of the impairment allowance for credit facilitations, as part of applying the International Financial Reporting Standard No. 9 and the instructions set forth by the Palestinian Monetary Authority to mitigate credit risks or any future financial shocks.