affiliate, Albank Alsaudi Alhollandi. In addition,
it was necessary to increase provisions for doubt
ful accounts. Despite the continuing difficulties
in Lebanon, our Beirut branches succeeded in
achieving a reasonably satisfactory surplus.
In the Far East, profits were under pressure.
However, in the light of the downturn in the
The Bank also continued its membership of
several banking consortia, the most important of
which is the Société Financière Européenne
(SFE).
economy in a large part of the region, the results
achieved in the majority of countries were
satisfactory in all respects. Our experience of the
Islamic banking system, in which interest is
neither credited nor charged and which was
introduced at our branch in Pakistan, was
favourable.
International co-operation.
The co-operation between the ABN and a
number of other West European banks in the
Associated Banks of Europe (ABECOR)
continued in 1985.
The emphasis of the activities within this
organization lies on the study of developments
which the member banks face in various areas,
including new products. Study groups, in which
specialists in diverse aspects of banking meet to
exchange experiences with the ultimate aim of
optimizing the operations of their respective
banks, play a central role.
India past and present meet in Bombay.
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