BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD), the largest financial institution in Brunei in terms of assets, financing and deposits, announced a record high dividend of 14.7 cents per ordinary share for the year ended Dec. 31, 2016, more than double the amount it distributed in the previous year.
According to a local media report on Friday, BIBD paid out a dividend of 7.3 cents per ordinary share in the previous year.
The record high dividend came on the back of double digit growth of the bank's net profit after Zakat and taxation as well as its total assets for the financial year 2016. The bank's net profit grew 21 percent to 122 million Brunei dollars (88.2 million U.S. dollars) while the total assets surged 28 percent to 9 billion Brunei dollars (6.5 billion U.S. dollars).
Commenting on the bank's record results, Haji Bahrin, Chairman of BIBD board of directors who is also Brunei's Minister of Development, said, "BIBD's strong fundamentals have enabled the bank to continue delivering value for our shareholders amid global economic headwinds."
He added that "the bank's sustained performance also reflects the nation's ongoing economic diversification efforts on non-energy industries such as financial services, aligning us closer towards Brunei Vision 2035."
