Bank of Maldives (BML) has approved a dividend of MVR 15 per share, for a total of MVR 80.7 million.
On Thursday, all of BML’s registered shareholders overwhelmingly approved a dividend of MVR 15 per share during the company’s Annual General Meeting via the FahiVote platform.
During the meeting, Bank of Maldives CEO and Managing Director Tim Sawyer emphasised the critical role the bank played in assisting the country during the COVID-19 pandemic and reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to assisting Maldivians during these extraordinary and trying times.
“A key part of our COVID strategy was on securing much needed external funding to ease liquidity pressures. Our strategy proved successful. We secured almost USD 90 million in funding from multiple lending agencies and at the same time, we also worked to ensure we had adequate foreign currency reserves to support the country,” he added.
Tim reflected on last year’s results, stating that while the bank started the year strongly, the pandemic and its consequent impact on their core income lines caused a severe hit to their financials. According to Tim, BML completed the year with a profit after tax of MVR 325 million, a decrease of more than 60% from the previous year.
Furthermore, he added that in last year, BML welcomed over 12,000 new customers and recorded over MVR 3 billion in new lending.