Gulf banks face a tough year and the pandemic is spurring lenders to introduce digital services more rapidly, a top executive at Bahrain s Bank ABC told S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Arab Banking Corp. (BSC), which brands itself Bank ABC and mostly lends to corporations, has subsidiaries in Brazil, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and the U.K. and also owns payment processing firm AFS, along with digital bank Ila, which it may roll out to new geographies where it does not yet operate.
ABC swung to a net loss in the first nine months of 2020 as net interest income slumped and its credit loss expenses more than quadrupled.