The National Bank (“TNB”) released its consolidated financial statements for the first quarter of 2021, reflecting a profit of approximately US$5 million with a growth of 330% compared to the first quarter of last year, thanks to a 50% jump in its operating income. With the challenging economic environment, TNB’s balance sheet showed a slight reduction, with total assets and deposits reaching US$2.74 billion and US$2.27 billion, respectively.

Mr. Samir Zraiq, Chairman of TNB, stated that the bank’s results for the first quarter were very good and expressed his optimism for a promising 2021. He confirmed that the TNB management team have met the financial targets and the outcome was in fact better than the original budget. Mr. Zraiq added that these results are a validation of the bank's strengths, and its reliance on solid foundations. He also confirmed that TNB will continue to invest in the bank’s team by acquiring new talent and developing existing skills in order to better serve TNB’s customer base.

Mr. Zraiq affirmed that the Board of Directors is working diligently with executive management to reinforce the regulatory framework, standards and controls of the work of the institution, especially best practices of corporate governance which the Bank is developing in line with global standards, pointing out that big strides have already been made in this domain in a relatively short period of time.

For his part, Mr. Salameh Khalil, TNB’s CEO, attributed the strong growth in net profit to the growth in the bank's operating revenues driven by the loan portfolio, treasury, investment portfolio. Moreover, healthy provisions were taken last year to circumvent repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly those related to the rescheduling of loan installments with the Palestine Islamic Bank (PIB). Mr. Khalil stressed that the Palestinian economy continues to steadily recover despite the various challenges.  

Mr. Khalil touched on TNB’s priority investments in technology in line with its digital transformation strategy, whilst keeping pace with digital developments in the global banking industry. He pointed out that the bank launched in the first quarter of this year two new services, "TNB Online" and “Mobile Banking”, allowing customers to complete their banking transactions remotely in a safe and secure manner without having to visit the branches. Mr. Khalil added that the bank is working on upgrading its core banking system to augment its effectiveness in response to digital developments, noting that TNB will soon launch new digital services that will be introduced in the Palestinian banking market for the first time.