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Gulf Finance House (GFH) announced that it has has secured its shareholders' support and agreement to the bank's strategy to return to profitability at its annual general meeting (AGM).
Shareholders were updated on GFH's activities and financial performance for 2009 in relation to market conditions, the steps it has taken to adapt to it and the direction it is taking to return to profitability and growth.
Details on GFH's capital and liquidity exercise were presented including the successful rights issue, placement of the convertible murabaha with Deutsche Bank, the partial sale of Qinvest, the various cost cutting measures, the spread of its debt obligations and the progress on other non-core asset sales.
They were also updated on GFH's product pipeline which will be key to the Bank's return to profitability.
GFH chairman Esam Janahi said: "2009 was an exceptionally difficult year for all financial institutions around the world including GFH. We thank all our shareholders for their understanding and support. Investor appetite was significantly diminished and continues to be a problem.
"To position us for a return to profitability we successfully executed a capital and liquidity management plan, and the board and management decided it was best to clear the balance sheet by booking the non-cash provisions. Despite acknowledging that 2010 will be another challenging year for the banking industry, we have strong reason to believe that the bank's prospects are positive."
"GFH is an important part of the Bahraini and GCC financial landscape and we appreciate the support we have received from our lenders. We also sincerely value the guidance from the CBB to improve our operations," said group CEO, Ted Pretty at the subsequent press conference.
"We want to get back to business and have already announced the work we are doing to establish one of the largest Islamic banks in Syria and the reception we have got from the investor community is very encouraging. We believe in the future of Islamic financing activities and we will look to capitalise on these opportunities in the MENA region. We will also purse exits to secure the best interests of our investors," he added.
