Kuwait’s Commercial Bank To Liquidate Investment Unit

Commercial Bank of Kuwait (CBK) said on Sunday it plans to liquidate its investment unit, according to a bourse filing.

The bank said in a statement the move to close CBK Capital, a fully-owned subsidiary which manages the bank’s proprietary investment portfolio, would not have a negative impact on the bank’s financial position but gave no details.

The bank was not immediately available for comment.

CBK Capital had around 15 million dinars ($53.5 million) in capital, according to a source with knowledge of the company’s finances.
It has undergone a restructuring and has been reducing activities for several years.

“Shutting it down has been on the cards for about four years. CBK’s major shareholder did not think it was in his interests to keep it,” the source said.

The bank took provisions against investments in the portfolio in 2011, according to its annual report.

CBK Capital managed two money market funds, a Kuwaiti stocks fund and an Islamic finance fund, the source said.

According to its 2011 cash flow statement, the bank spent 117.3 million dinars on acquiring investment securities last year and its proceeds from disposing of investment securities totalled 57.3 million.

Its dividend income from investment securities was 3.2 million dinars.