Kuwait's largest bank posts record half-yearly profits

The National Bank of Kuwait, the Gulf emirate's largest bank, on Sunday announced record net profits of 129 million dinars (446 million dollars) for the first six months of 2006.
The figure is 32 percent higher than the 98.3 million dinars (336.7 million dollars) posted in the same period last year, NBK said in a statement.
Return on equity was 39.7 percent compared to 35.3 percent last year, while return on assets stood at 4.1 percent as against 3.6 percent in the first half of 2005.
"Our results this year reflect positive momentum across all business lines, manifested in underlying growth in business volume from new and existing clients, industry leading service quality, and market share gains in our core businesses," said CEO Ibrahim Dabdoub.