Amman - The Arab Bank Group, one of the Arab world's largest banking establishments, managed to increase its net profits after tax by 8.4 per cent in 2008, to 840 million dollars, the group's chairman Abdul Hamid Shoman said Saturday.

"The figure represents the best results to be posted by the group since its establishment in 1930 despite the fluctuations in prices and production costs that were triggered by the global financial crisis" in the last quarter of 2008, he added.

However, Shoman expected the year 2009 to be "a difficult one due to the challenges the world banking industry is going to face as a result of the global economic slowdown."

He said that the Jordanian banking system was able to withstand the repercussions of the global financial meltdown due to "the wise monetary policy pursued by the Central Bank of Jordan and its strict application of international supervision criteria on local banks."

The Arab Bank Group has branches in 29 countries. (dpa)