Multi-national Arab Bank on trial for supporting terror

AFP
August 19, 2014
Jennie Matthew

Arab Bank, on trial in New York for allegedly supporting terrorism, is one of the biggest and most prestigious Arab banking giants in the world.

Founded in 1930 by Abdel Hamid Shoman, a Palestinian from Jerusalem who worked as a peddlar in New York then returned home to start his empire, it started out as the first private sector financial institution in the Arab world.

In 1948, when the state of Israel was established, the bank relocated to Amman.

Today, the Arab Bank Group is a hugely respected multinational with more than 600 branches in 30 countries, assets last year worth $46.4 billion and a shareholders’ equity base of $7.8 billion.

Over the decades it has weathered a storm of political upheaval in the Middle East and economic boom and bust, forging an international reputation for honesty, fiscal conservatism and first-class professionalism.

To read the article in its entirety on The Jordan Times, click here.