History
Arab Bank, PLC (“Arab Bank” or the “Bank”) was founded in Jerusalem in 1930 as the first private sector financial institution in the Arab world. In the decades that followed, Arab Bank expanded its financial scope of products and services into new areas of business, including investment banking.
Following the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993, Arab Bank began operating in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, operating under the supervision of both the Central Bank of Jordan and the Palestinian Monetary Authority. The Bank continues to operate 26 branches throughout the Palestinian Territories.
Global Presence
Today, Arab Bank is one of the largest Arab banking branch networks across the MENA region. It is the largest listed company on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) and is part of the Arab Bank Group that has a total of $48.1 billion in assets and a shareholders’ equity base of $7.9 billion in 2013. It is one of the top five stocks on the S&P-Hawkamah Pan Arab ESG Index which ranks the Middle East’s top 50 companies on the basis of environmental, social and corporate governance standards.
The Bank counts individuals, corporations, government agencies and other international institutions as its customers. It has been a trusted financial institution for payments made by the international donor community and non-governmental organizations, including UNICEF.
Jordan remains Arab Bank’s most important center of operations. Arab Bank is the largest Jordanian financial institution in terms of assets, equity and banking market share.
Values
Since its inception in the 1930s, Arab Bank has been active in the communities that it serves. Central to Arab Bank’s operating practices are its core values: trust, commitment, citizenship, service excellence, customer focus, empowerment, teamwork and transparency.
In 1978, the Bank created the Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation to promote social development in the region in the fields of science and the humanities, one of the only such foundations created by a private sector company in Jordan.
For additional information, please consult Arab Bank’s 2014 Sustainability Report.