Bahrain Development Bank responds to the observations and recommendations of the...

direct: Bahrain Development Bank stated that it finances small and medium companies based on an integrated strategy that has been developed to include employing the highest standards of performance in studying the ability and will of borrowers to fulfill their financial obligations and taking the necessary precautions to protect the bank’s assets and public money.

The bank said in a statement carried by the official news agency “BNA” today, Saturday, that through this strategy and procedures followed, the bank was able to reduce bad loans by 33% from 24 million dinars in February 2020 to 16 million dinars in September 2020.

This came in reference to the seventeenth annual report of the Bureau of Financial and Administrative Supervision for the professional year 2019-2020, the Bahrain Development Bank wishes.

The management of the Bahrain Development Bank praised the great efforts made by the Office of Financial and Administrative Supervision with the aim of establishing standards of effectiveness, efficiency and transparency, and verifying the optimal use of public property, stressing that addressing observations and recommendations greatly contributes to the development of public performance.

Regarding the observation that the bounced checks of some borrowers were not presented to the police and the bank did not file a lawsuit against those who failed to pay the arrears, the bank confirmed that it has counted all these cases, which are mostly related to old and different issues in terms of details and are dealt with regularly to save and retrieve all dues. the bank.

The Bahrain Development Bank stated that it works closely within the Bahrain Team system, including the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance and National Economy, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, the Tamkeen Labor Fund, and all security and judicial agencies to enhance the bank’s ability to contribute to the development of small and medium enterprises, but at the same time develop performance governance. The bank, through continuous review of loan approval policies, requirements and guarantees, and monitoring of borrowers ’payment procedures for dues and collection of arrears by all available methods, taking into account all previous cases and causes of default to avoid recurrence in the future.

It is worth noting that despite the current economic challenges in light of the current circumstances of the Coronavirus, the bank was able to continue contributing to financing and supporting small and medium enterprises, in addition to reducing the amounts owed to the bank by 18% from 13.5 million dinars in February 2020 to 11.5 million dinars in September 2020.

The bank had recently announced the start of implementing a digital transformation strategy by launching several projects, including a contract with the global company Tata (TCS) to develop an advanced digital banking system that would allow borrowers to have an advanced and integrated banking experience in line with the Kingdom’s economic vision 2030 in the transition to a knowledge economy. And cloud computing.