Jordan-Kuwait Bank 2012 net profit rises 23 pct

AMMAN Feb 14 (Reuters) - Jordan-Kuwait Bank said on Thursday 2012 net profit rose 23 percent to 48.8 million dinars ($69 mln) due to healthy growth in it's corporate and retail business.

The bank, majority owned by Kuwait's Burgan Bank, said assets rose 6.1 percent in 2012 to 2.4 billion dinars.

"The results reflect the ability to deal with the current conditions as it witnessed growth in direct and syndicated loans to major corporates and governmental bodies along with continued growth in retail business," Abdel Karim Kabariti, chairman of the board of the bank, said in a statement.

Jordan-Kuwait Bank's total outstanding loan portfolio, which includes credit to government bodies, rose 13.8 percent to 1.4 billion dinars at the end of 2012 against the same period in 2011.

($1=0.709 dinar) (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi)