Sunday, 17 January 2010 at 15:47, Reuters, Dubai
National Bank of Oman reported a 38 per cent drop in fourth-quarter net profit on Sunday, falling short of analysts' expectations as loan activity and deposits slowed.
Oman's third-largest lender by market value had net profit of 6.54 million rials ($16.99 million) compared with 10.6m rials in the year-ago period, according to Reuters calculations based on previous financial statements.
The results were below forecasts for fourth-quarter net profit of 7.81m rials, according to a Reuters survey.
Banks across the Gulf were forced to take extra provisions against bad loans in 2009 as fallout from the global financial crisis combined with some large debt restructurings in the region.
National Bank of Oman said in December it had $22.6m in exposure to Dubai World, the debt-laden conglomerate which plans to restructure some $22 billion in debt.
In June, the Omani bank said it had nearly $17m in exposure to two Bahrain-based units linked to a pair of Saudi groups.
The lender's full-year net profit fell 42.5 per cent to 26.11m rials from 45.38m rials in 2008, according to a filing on the Muscat stock exchange on Sunday.
The bank saw a 6 per cent drop in customers' deposits and a 2.5 per cent decline in loans for the full year.
Results at two smaller Omani banks earlier this month pointed to more encouraging signs for the domestic banking sector.
Bank Dhofar said fourth-quarter net profit rose more than four-fold, while Bank Sohar posted a full-year net profit after it made a loss one year earlier.
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