Damascus- Nibal Bakfalouni Director General of the Commercial Bank of Syria Mr. Firas Alsalman stated that, prior to subtracting taxes and mandatory reserves, the Bank’s profits to date this year have reached SYP 14.3 billions. Alsalman pointed out that returns on assets were 1.5% and returns on owners’ equity were 15.2%. Both are good performance indicators compared to other banks operating in the country. He also stated that the Bank’s investments reached SYP 409.96 billion representing an increase of 15% compared to the same period last year. Total deposits in the Bank in the first nine months this year reached SYP 455.55 billion. This represents an increase of 18% compared to the same period last year. The Bank’s liquidity as of 26 October 2014 was 45.07% for all currencies and 49.91% for the Syrian pound alone. This high liquidity ratio is enabling the Bank to meet government and other demand for credit. Finally, Alsalman confirmed that the Bank is doing its best to improve the services of its ATM network. Improved maintenance and redeployment of ATMs to safe areas increased the number of operating ATMs from 160 to 233 in the second half of 2014 he said.
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