October 2008

S&P ISSUES ‘A-’ STABLE LONG TERM CREDIT RATING TO AHLI UNITED BANK

Ahli United Bank (AUB) B.S.C has announced that the Bank has been assigned a Long Term Issue Credit Rating of ‘A-‘ (stable) by Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Rating Service. The S&P’ move follows affirmation of the Bank’s long term credit risk rating of ‘A-‘(stable) by Fitch in August 2008 and earlier by Capital Intelligence of ‘A’ (stable) in June 2008.

In its rating report, S&P said that “the ratings on Bahrain-based Ahli United Bank B.S.C. (AUB) reflect its leading commercial position in the Kingdom of Bahrain, better geographic diversification than for regional peers, improving financial performance, and strong asset quality”.

S&P went on to state: “AUB is among the 20 largest banking groups in the Gulf. It is also one of the very few players to have good geographic diversification, although this creates additional challenges for risk management and operating efficiency. The group’s adequate enterprise risk management–in our assessment–and proven ability to integrate acquisitions nevertheless positions it well to handle these challenges”.

Describing AUB’s strategy as well defined, the report highlighted the Bank’s strengths in a number of areas: “The bank’s asset quality is strong”; “Its customer franchise is good, with more than 400,000 customers”; “Private banking and wealth management is more developed at AUB than at most other Gulf banks”, and that “Enterprise risk management at AUB is adequate, reflecting its good risk

AHLI UNITED BANK REPORTS A 24% RISE IN NET PROFIT FOR THE NINE MONTH PERIOD ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2008

In the midst of unprecedented turbulence in the global financial services sector, Ahli United Bank B.S.C. (AUB) has delivered another strong performance for the first nine month period ended 30 September 2008 reporting a net profit of US$ 280.1 million. This represents an increase of 24.0% over the same period in 2007 (US$ 225.9 million). Net interest income increased by US$ 84.1 million to US$ 324.4 million for the nine months ended 30 September 2008. The Group’s core earnings were further boosted by higher fee and commission income of US$ 124.7 million as compared to US$ 112.1 million last year, leading to an increased total operating income of US$ 601.3 million (2007 US$484.5 million), an increase of 24.1%, reflecting the strength of AUB’s diversified business lines and geographic platforms.

The Group’s cost-to-income ratio improved to 33.8% from the 2007 level of 34.7 %. The dilutive earnings per ordinary share for the nine month period ended 30 September 2008, adjusted for the significant impact of conversion of preference shares in January 2008, were US cents 6.1 against US cents 5.5 for the corresponding period last year.

Despite tightening liquidity conditions, the Group was able to mobilize US$ 3.0 billion in additional customer deposits (+27.8%) over the level of 31 December 2007. On the assets front, the loan portfolio grew by a conservative 10.8% contributed largely from the regional corporate portfolio. Total assets as at 30 September 2008 stood at US$ 25.3 billion, an increase of 10.0 % over 31 December 2007. Group’s return on the expanded average asset base rose to 1.8% for the nine months ended 30 September 2008 as compared to the 1.7% for the same period in the previous year.

The Group’s ratings have also been re-affirmed during Q3/08 at “A-“ with stable outlook by both Standard & Poor’s and Fitch and “A “with stable outlook by Capital Intelligence.

“AUB’s performance on the backdrop of rising financial sector turbulence illustrate the strength of our underlying core earnings, conservative risk management and diversified lines of business. This is indeed a very good performance driven by underlying core operating earnings across all divisions, delivered in an unpredictably challenging environment for all market players never faced before,” said Fahad Al-Rajaan, Chairman, AUB.

Meanwhile, AUB’s performance continued to be recognised by the international financial industry during the year when it secured “Best Bank in Bahrain” Awards from Euromoney and “Best Bank in the Middle East” award from Global Finance. It was also the first ever recipient of AsiaMoney’s ‘Best Commercial Bank in Bahrain’ award during the year. Global Finance accorded AUB the ‘Best Foreign Exchange Bank in the Middle East 2008’ award.

“AUB recently announced the signing of a US$ 800 million syndicated loan facility, which received a very solid response from 28 banks across Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. With global funding markets effectively blocked, AUB’s ability to successfully secure a substantial loan facility re-affirms our leading position in the region’s banking sector,” said Fahad Al-Rajaan, Chairman, AUB.