Jordan's largest lender, Arab Bank Group, said on Saturday its 2015 net profits fell to $442 million, from $577 million a year earlier, after putting aside hundreds of millions to cover a legal settlement in the United States. Arab Bank agreed last August to settle lawsuits filed a decade ago by about 500 US citizens who sued the lender under the US Anti-Terrorism Act. The act permits US citizens to pursue claims arising from international terrorism.
Chairman Sabih al-Masri said the bank had set aside $349 million in legal provisions in 2015 that were part of $1 billion in provisions the bank had accumulated over the last few years to cover the "expected obligations" under the settlement. The bank said its total profits before tax and provisions topped $1.1 billion in 2015. The bank, one of the biggest financial institutions in the Middle East with a balance sheet of $46.4 billion, has not given a figure for how much it had agreed to pay.
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