And elects a new Board of Directors
The General Assembly of the National Bank (TNB) held its ordinary meeting today in the city of Ramallah and approved the recommendation of the Bank’s Board of Directors to distribute dividends for the year 2021 to shareholders as on May 15, 2022, in the form of free shares at a rate of 8.13% of the paid-up capital of about USD 105 million, i.e. about 8.5 million shares at a nominal value of one dollar per share. As a result, and upon fulfilling all legal procedures, the paid-up capital of the National Bank reached USD 113.1 million, thus strengthening the bank's ranking as the second largest bank in Palestine in terms of paid-up capital.
During the meeting, a new board of directors was also elected for the bank, consisting of 11 members for the next four years. The following members were elected: Samir Zraiq and Omar Masri representing themselves, Caesar Qulajen representing the Jordan Commercial Bank, Maen Melhem and Hisham Zeid representing the Palestine Telecommunications Company, Issam Salfiti representing Bank al Etihad, Manal Zraiq and Dina Masri representing themselves, Aziz Abdel Jawad and Ayoub Zurub as independent members, and Kamal Abu Khadijeh representing minority shareholders.
The meeting was attended by the representative of the Companies Controller Bilal Kattaneh, the representative of the Palestinian Monetary Authority Raja Jabarin, the representative of the Palestinian Capital Market Authority Murad Al-Jadba, the representative of the Palestine Exchange Ahmed Safi, the external auditor for Ernst & Young Abdul Karim Mahmoud, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Bank Samir Zraiq, TNB CEO Salameh Khalil, and the bank’s legal advisor, Musa Al-Kurdi, in addition to members of TNB’s Board of Directors and a number of its shareholders.
At the outset of the meeting, the Companies Controller announced that the quorum for the session was met at 84%, this was followed by the presentation of the Board of Directors’ report for the fiscal year 2021 by TNB Chairman of the Board, Samir Zraiq. During the presentation Zraiq touched on several issues, most notably the growth of the bank’s financial performance for the year 2021, and the development plans that were implemented during the year 2021, along with an overview of the bank’s achievements and its ambitious plans and goals for the year 2022.
Zraiq indicated that TNB will remain on track with more growth and progress, to achieve strong financial performance, and rely on solid foundations that support the Board of Directors’ plans. He noted the increase in the bank’s paid-in capital during the year 2021 to about USD 105 million, thus making TNB the second largest bank in Palestine in terms of paid-up capital. TNB can therefore rely on a strong capital base that would support its ambitious plans for growth and progress, allowing for new achievements in the Palestinian banking market.
On development plans for the year 2021, Zraiq stressed that a large part of the development plans has been implemented to enhance the bank’s performance, including the appointment of a new executive management team benefiting from young expertise and competencies, in addition to restructuring the bank’s organizational chart to raise efficiency and organization and boost effectiveness. In line with best practices in corporate governance, the overall policies and procedures that regulate the bank’s work were developed, in addition to activating the work and role of supervisory departments, their affiliation and independence, and raising investments towards the development of digital technology infrastructure.
Zraiq reviewed the results of TNB’s business for the year 2021, stressing that the bank was able to achieve satisfactory financial results meeting the goals set by the Board of Directors. This strengthened the bank’s financial position, bringing the net profit of TNB at the end of last year to about USD 14 million, of which 8.5 million went to the bank’s shareholders. He also noted that the bank’s total assets amounted to USD 1.63 billion, and customer deposits reached USD 1.21 billion, while the portfolio of credit facilities and direct financing amounted to USD 877 million.
On the bank’s plans for 2022, Zraiq explained that a new strategic plan will be adopted for the coming years, characterized by ambitious goals and based on continuing effective and efficient growth. The main pillars of the plan include increasing investment in digital technology, expanding the bank’s customer base, enhancing shareholders’ returns, ensuring a studied geographical expansion, and launching more banking services and products meeting the actual financial needs of different social categories in Palestine. All this aims at implementing the ambitious goals set by the Board of Directors of the Bank and achieving customer and shareholder satisfaction.
It is worth mentioning that the ordinary general assembly meeting was preceded by its extraordinary meeting, during which the general assembly of the bank approved raising the authorized capital from USD 110 million to USD 115 million.
