One Friday 24/04/2015, Bank of Palestine’s General Assembly held its annual ordinary meeting at the General Management Head Office in Ramallah, communicating with the General Management Office in Gaza through video conferencing, in the presence of Mr. Hashim Shawa, Bank of Palestine’s Chairman and General Manager, Board of Directors’ members, Corporate Auditors in Ministry of National Economy, representatives of External Auditor of Accounts, Palestine Exchange, Monetary Authority, Palestine Capital Market Authority and a large group of shareholders.
The agenda of the annual ordinary meeting of the General Assembly included the following items: discussion and approval of Board of Directors’ report, discussion and approval of financial statements of 2014, recommendations of the Board of Directors to distribute dividends to shareholders, in addition to approval of the auditors’ reports and provide clearance to the Board of Directors; the session began after the completion of the meeting between the Bank’s shareholders, with a percentage of 60.53%.
In his opening speech, Mr. Hashim Shawa presented the Bank’s achievements in the past year, as the Bank continued with a strong performance and its net profit reach 40.2 million US dollars in 2014; in spite of the most recent war against Gaza Strip that lasted for more than fifty days during the past year, which paralyzed all economic facilities and caused catastrophic damages to the Palestinian economy as a whole and caused more suffering to our people in all sectors of life; nevertheless, the Bank continued its growth and its assets increased with around 77 million dollars to reach the value of 2.42 billion dollars by the end of 2014, in comparison to 2.34 billion dollars by the end of 2013.
Shawa explained that the Bank was able to achieve growth in most of the other financial indicators. The financial data indicated an increase in the total income by 6.73%, to reach 120 million dollars, in comparison with 113 million dollars achieved by the Bank in 2013. The customers’ deposits increased by 18.16% to exceed 2 billion dollars, in comparison with 1.74 billion dollars achieved by the Bank by the end of 2013; in addition, in regards to the total credit facilitations, the financial indicators showed an increase by 4.37% to reach 1.151 billion dollars, in comparison with 1.103 billion dollars by the end of 2013; these facilitations greatly focused on financing small enterprises, which are considered the engine of our national economy.
Shawa added that the financial data also indicated that the total expenses to guarantee customers’ deposits reached 4,759,102 US dollars by the end of 2014, in comparison to 100,000 dollar in 2013; which impacted the profit in year 2014.
Shawa indicated a total growth in shareholders’ equity of 11.15% to reach 280,106,578 US dollars with an increase in the value of 28,087,604 dollar, noting that the paid capital reached a value 160 million dollars, keeping the Bank to lead other operating banks in Palestine in terms of the highest paid capital.
Shawa also added that the Bank employed great focus on Palestinian women throughout the past year through the development of programs that meet the needs of Palestinian women and provide them with job opportunities. In addition to the Bank’s contributions to develop a competition for social and economic Palestinian women leaders, in collaboration with Business Women’s Forum in Palestine and Spark Institution; the Bank provides great support to leading women through the development of financial tools that meet their needs, enhance their role in the society and economy and encourage them to do business and build their own businesses, which generates income for them and their families, due to the Bank’s belief in equality and diversity in the work force.
According to Shawa, the Bank’s adopted policy of expansion and spreading out had a clear impact in delivering its banking services to various Palestinian areas, particularly rural areas, far from city centers; the Bank opened a branch in Bidya in Salfeet Governorate; in addition, the Bank opened four other branches in Nablus, Badu village near Jerusalem and two other branches in Gaza strip: Tal Al Hawa (central Gaza Strip) and Beit Lahia (Northern Gaza Strip), which increased the volume of banking transactions. Additionally, the Bank diversified its services and provided distinctive offers and campaigns to the Palestinian market with quality and unique performance; the Bank’s branch network has 54 branches and offices present in all Palestinian cities.
In regards to social responsibility, Shawa talked about some of the activities implemented throughout the past year, as a large part of these activities were implemented during the war against Gaza Strip; as during the last attack on Gaza Strip, Bank of Palestine initiated donations and the provision of financial assistance to purchase medicine, relief supplies and food packages for our people in Gaza Strip, and provided assistance to Al-Makassed Hospital; throughout the war and its destruction from casualties, injuries and displacement of thousands of families to UNRWA schools and public accommodations, Bank of Palestine continued its humanitarian and national mission by providing aid and urgent assistance to our people in Gaza Strip, through “Palestine in Our Heart” campaign, launched by the Bank since the beginning of the aggression, in partnership with Welfare Association and UNRWA. The value of donations collected throughout the campaign exceeded 1.1 million dollars, from which 300,000 dollars was provided by the Bank and its staff. Shawa added that the Bank provided in 2014 around 2.3 million dollars for social responsibility, covering all social sectors, such as health, education, culture and humanitarian assistance.
Shawa expressed his pride for the distinctive awards received by the Bank, such as “Best Bank in Palestine” award from several important international institutions including Euromoney, Global Finance and The Banker, in addition to the award for the Best Social Responsibility Program in the Middle East from Emeafinance International.
At the conclusion of his speech, Shawa thanked and showed his appreciation to the shareholders for their support to the Bank’s journey and thanked the Monetary Authority, employees, and the Capital Market Authority for their commitment and efforts to enhance regulations of the financial sector and contributions to advance the Palestinian national economy.
The General Assembly agreed to the Board of Directors recommendation of the dividends in the amount of 34,200,000 million dollars from the achieved profit – 21.375% of the paid capital. The amount was divided as follows: the Bank will capitalize 15,000,000 as free shares, representing 9.375% of the capital to increase the Bank’s paid capital to 175 million dollars from 160 million dollars; the Bank will also distribute cash dividends to the shareholders, in the value of 19.2 million dollars (in cash), representing 12% of the paid capital; the dividends are distributed to the shareholders registered at Palestine Exchange on 23/04/2015, each based on their share of the Bank’s capital. The Bank will begin to distribute cash profit starting on Sunday 26/04/2015 throughout all the Bank’s branches.
Before the meeting’s conclusion and after responding to the shareholders’ inquiries, the General Assembly approved the two reports from the Board of Directors and the external auditors, Earnest & Young and approved the distribution of the recommended shares. The General Assembly authorized the Board of Directors to specify the contract with the accounts auditor for year 2014 and provided clearance to the Board of Directors chairman and members for year 2014.