“The banking sector continues to go through a challenging time, but, as a small group, we continue to grow reasonably well, especially given the complexities of the markets in which we operate.”
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iib has been certified as a Great Place to Work® in Bahrain. After conducting a survey among colleagues, iib ranked extremely high on all parameters, from workplace culture to collaboration, from open-door policy to teamwork and
camaraderie.
iib ranked iib ranked 100% on the following:
• This is a physically safe place to work.
• People here are treated fairly regardless of their gender.
• Taking everything into account, I would say this is a great place to work.
• People here are treated fairly regardless of their age.
• People celebrate special events around here.
Speaking on the occasion, CEO Sohail Sultan said, “We are committed to continuing this extremely positive trend and creating an exemplary environment for all our colleagues. I want to express my appreciation and thanks for your contributions. Let’s celebrate this achievement together and continue to uphold our values as we move forward. It is an honor to lead such a remarkable group of individuals.”
iib congratulations the entire team on this tremendous milestone.
About Great Place To Work®
Great Place To Work ® (www.greatplacetowork.me) is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Through proprietary assessment tools, advisory services, and certification programs, Great Place To Work ® recognizes the Best Workplaces™ across the world in a series of national lists including those published by Fortune magazine (USA) and in leading media across the Middle East. Great Place To Work ® provides the benchmarks, framework, and expertise needed to create, sustain, and recognize outstanding workplace cultures.
With the public issuance of iib Marine and Ocean-Based Blue Bonds, which took place last January at the event “THE OCEAN RACE MINDELO SUMMIT”, the International Investment bank (iib West Africa) with the Cape Verde Stock Exchange, were invited by the Angola Debt and Securities Exchange (BODIVA) to participate as speakers at the IV Edition of the BODIVA Forum in Angola, aiming to share experiences in capital market development and ESG best practices.
On the sidelines of the Forum, iib and BODIVA signed a memorandum focusing on capital market development, development structuring and placement of financial instruments, ensuring their market suitability.
They also undertook to ensure contacts between the two institutions, given the mutual interests in developing Human Capital, by sharing knowledge and promoting education and financial literacy.
“Working in partnership with the Government will allow us to fullfil the need for better infrastructure through strategic development.”
Sohail Sultan, CEO
The iib Blue Bonds, called “iib Marine and Ocean-Based Blue Bonds”, whose broadcast was announced at the “THE OCEAN RACE MINDELO SUMMIT” event, which featured the participation of distinguished personalities such as the Secretary General of the United Nations, Dr. Antonio Guterres, the Prime Minister of Portugal, Dr. Antonio Costa and the Prime Minister of Cabo Verde, Dr. Ulisses Correio and Silva constitute the first emission of this nature in Cabo Verde , representing a decisive milestone in the process of valuing the Sea and Oceans in the country.
The issuance of these bonds aims to make it possible for the development of structural projects in the area of the Blue Economy, as well as dedicating a minimum of 50,000,000 CVE to the development and financial inclusion in the same sector, made possible through direct financing or through the identification and development of innovative strategic partnerships designed to support access to small-scale credit to individuals and small businesses in the sustainable maritime and fisheries sectors.
The launch event, which took place at 18:00 last January 23,2023, in the port of Mindelo, aboard the tall ship OOSTERSCHELDE docked, was chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Dr. Olavo Correia, and was attended by the Ministers of the Sea and Minister of Culture and from Creative Industries, Tourism, Transport, and Agriculture.
The profits of iib Cabo Verde, a bank led by the iib group in Bahrain and held in 10% by the Portuguese Novo Banco, increased by 77%in 2021, to three million euros, the best result in the institution’s history.
The information is contained in the 2021 report and accounts of the International Investment Bank Cabo Verde (iibCV), which provides for the application of this result only in legal reserves (10%) and other reserves (90%), without distributing dividends, as had already happened in 2019 and 2020 to prevent economic repercussions from the covid-19 pandemic.
iibCV closed 2021 with a net profit of over 337.1 million escudos (three million euros).This performance compares with profits of 190.3 million escudos (1.7 million euros) in 2020 and 147.2 million escudos (1.3 million euros) in 2019.
In the report and accounts, the management of iibCV underlines that solvency and liquidity levels stood at 31% at the end of 2021 and 441 million escudos (four million euros), respectively, providing “an accommodative positioning of the equity structure”, ending the year with a 77% growth in net income, “constituting the best result in the history of the institution”, in more than ten years of activity in Cape Verde.
To “win the moment”, still marked by the economic crisis caused by the pandemic in 2021, the administration underlines that it remained “faithful to the execution of the fundamental variables” of the strategic plan, “which resulted in a balance sheet growth by 53% [to 30 billion escudos, 270.5 million euros],through more efficient and diversified sources of funding, enabling an asset structure with a superior risk-weighted return”.
This management, he adds, was also reflected in the increase in banking income by 41%, to 725.4 million escudos (almost 6.6 million euros), given the “increase in net interest income by 12% and in the complementary margin by 301%”.
“With regard to the loan portfolio, it is important to highlight the proactive management of the portfolio, which enabled differentiated monitoring of customers, a determining factor in the recovery of non-performing loans (NPLs), whose proportionality was fixed at 1.49%”, he says. up in the report and accounts.
The bank’s global loan portfolio grew by 1% in 2021, to almost 5.5 billion escudos (49.6 million euros). The non-performing loan portfolio (over 90 days) thus totaled around 80.7 million escudos (730 thousand euros).
The bank closed 2021 with positive equity of 1,789 million escudos (16.1 million euros)and total assets of over 30 billion escudos (270.5 million euros), for liabilities of 28.2 billion escudos (254.4 million euros), practically half corresponding to customer deposits.
Customer resources, in deposits, registered a year-on-year growth of 5%, to almost 14.9 billion escudos (134.4 million euros).
The iibCV, until 2019 called Banco Internacional de Cabo Verde (BICV) and formerly Banco Espírito Santo Cabo Verde, started its activity in July 2010and until mid-2018 it was fully owned by Novo Banco de Portugal.
On 11 July 2018, after approval by the supervisory bodies, 90% of the shares representing the share capital were acquired by iib Group Holdings WLL (iibGroup), based in the Kingdom of Bahrain, which aims to acquire and manage banking assets in the Middle East and Africa.
The rebranding from BICV to iibCV was only completed in mid-2019, with Novo Banco (through Novo Banco África) remaining part of the shareholder structure, with a minority stake of 10%.
With a share capital of 1,433 million escudos (13 million euros), iibCV currently has a physical presence on the islands of Santiago and Sal and has around 40 employees.
“Despite the pandemic, we remained faithful to the execution of the fundamental variables of the strategic plan.”
Francisco Ferreira, CEO iib Cabo Verde
Working with Sounah-Alhaya and other charitable organisations, iib Djibouti reached out to the community to help ease the burden off Eid-ul-Adha. Activities were centred around the distribution of food bags to needy families to help with the sentiment of feasting after fasting. Children clothing was also distributed and a party was held for the children to celebrate the occasion. iib also made a donation to special need school for children.
The Minister of the Sea, Abraão Vicente, received a courtesy visit from the President of iibGroup and representatives of IMGS Group, who are in Cape Verde, at the invitation of the Minister, after contacts established in Dubai.
This preliminary visit to the Ministry of the Sea, and institutions under its tutelage, precedes the signing of a memorandum of understanding, which will take place this Thursday, with a view to develop port activities, implementation and development of special economic zones.
“Working in partnership with the Government will allow us to fullfil the need for better infrastructure through strategic development.”
Sohail Sultan, CEO
The International Investment Bank (Djibouti) S.A. announced a customer donation matching commitment to support the COVID-19 government support fund. iib customers donated DJF 10 million which was equally matched by the Bank.
On 16 June 2020, iib Djibouti represented by Mr Raj Dussoye, Chief Executive Officer of iib (Djibouti) donated the total amount of DJF 20 million to the COVID-19 fund in the presence of officers from the Ministry of the Budget (Ministère du Budget, Djibouti). The donation was broadcasted on the national television, Radio Television of Djibouti (RTD). The donation is in support of the government’s effort in fighting COVID-19.