A 3 per cent fall in net income to $37.7 million was recorded in the first half of 1994 by Gulf International Bank (GIB), the Bahrain-based offshore international bank.

The profit fall mainly reflected lower non-interest income. This dropped by 56 per cent to $14.4 million from $32.6 million in January-June 1993. Operating expenses rose by 5.5 per cent to $19.3 million.

The first-half performance was helped by a reduction in provisions to $7 million, compared with $25 million in total for the first half of 1993. Assets at the end of June were $7,059 million, 4.6 per cent more than a year earlier, but down on the end-1993 figure of $7,172 million. Loans were 10.2 per cent higher at $3,265 million.

Customer deposits were $3,434 million, 29 per cent higher than at the end of June 1993. Deposits with banks were down by almost 15 per cent. Shareholders' equity at 30 June 1994 was $566 million. GIB chairman Ibrahim Abdul-Karim told the bank's directors on 12 June that the results were satisfactory and core banking business continued to develop positively. GIB general manager Ghazi Abdul-Jawad said that GIB had performed well, given the difficult conditions in international markets, and that the outlook was encouraging.

GIB has focussed most of its lendings on the Gulf and has been involved in several major syndications for Qatari and Saudi projects.