Laudable Strides by the National Bank in Aden [Archives:2000/24/Business & Economy]

Ridwan Al-Saqqaf
Aden Bureau Chief
The National Bank is one of the outstanding banks in Yemen. It was the first bank established in the then Southern part of Yemen. Now it is under the process of privatization.
The bank was established in 1969. It is a state-owned bank with 27 branches distributed throughout the Republic. The bank offers banking services including accepting deposits of national and foreign currencies. It also offers loans and facilities to companies and individuals. It opens LCs for exportation and importation, issues letters of credit and internal transfer operations.
The bank also buys travelers and banking cheques and finally, participates in international loans.
Mr. Abdulrahman Al-Kuhali, chairman of the board and the director general of the National Bank, talked about the period after the unification and said “First and foremost, the bank has kept its honored position regionally and internationally in terms of its being able to overcome its state before the unification. The bank has also been able to increase its assets from YR14,7 billion at the end of 1990 to YR 30,3 billion by the end of 1999. Deposits have also been increased from YR 13,7 billion at the end of 1990 to YR 26,2 billion by the end of 1999. Therefore, the bank is considered to be number one in terms of mobilization of domestic savings. The savings assets have amounted to YR 11,4 billion at the end of 1999 compared to YR 1,7 billion at the end of 1990.
The bank is considered to be in the second place after the state budget in terms of re-distributing the national income according to the areas and intensity of population. It is the first saving resource and at the same time is the biggest shareholder of treasury bonds reaching YR 13 billion.
It is number one among the local commercial banks regarding the overall of payments which are used to support the state budget reaching YR 1,2 billion during 1990-1999.
The 1998-2000 period is considered a space of time for reforming failings and enhancing development of the bank. We came to find out that the period 1998-1999 was the most prosperous compared to the previous years. We have implemented the programs of the world Bank including the structural and administrative reforms; finishing all regulations and rules of procedure pertaining to human resources and to conduct evaluation; retrieving most of the bank’s bad debts; documenting all possessions of the bank; evaluating foreign investment; establishing the committee of assets and liabilities which is responsible for evaluating the latest daily banking development; establishing the fundamentals of banking policy.
The most important achievements of 1998 can be listed as follows:
1) There had been a visible increase in the net profit by the end of 1999 reaching YR 317,3 million in comparison to the end of 1990.
2) Decreasing bad debts to less than 65% in 1998 in comparison to its rate in 1995 and to 54% in comparison to that in 1997.
3) Activating the bank’s branch in Sana’a which was opened in 1992. It became number one among the other branches of the bank in terms of direct banking performance and achieving net profit.
4) The capital paid and capital reserves reached YR 2,4 billion in 1999.
5) Establishing the objectives, policies and fundamentals of the banking work.”
Regarding future prospects, he said “We seek to modernize and develop the banking services and increase their kinds and expand them internally in terms of making the procedure easier and quicker to save time; improving the mechanism of banking services through using a computer network to interconnect the branches; depending on a qualified and competent cadre; enhancing the relationship between local and foreign banks; opening branches in all governorates; making strong contributions to enhance the development of the economy of the country through supporting the state budget, economic development plans, investments, etc.”
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