For the first six months of the year, ANSA Mer­chant Bank and its sub­sidiaries achieved con­sol­i­dat­ed prof­it be­fore tax of $127.5 mil­lion.

"This rep­re­sents a 38 per cent in­crease over the com­par­a­tive six month pe­ri­od of 2014," chair­man Dr An­tho­ny N Sab­ga said in a state­ment to share­hold­ers.

He said the bank's prof­it be­fore tax­es im­proved by 15 per cent for the half-year as all busi­ness lines per­formed cred­i­bly. In ad­di­tion, ANSA Mer­chant Bank di­ver­si­fied it ex­po­sures to en­sure that pos­i­tive re­turns were sus­tained.

Dr Sab­ga added: "Our gen­er­al in­sur­ance busi­ness in­creased its op­er­at­ing prof­it by ten per cent due to con­tin­ued strong un­der­writ­ing growth and im­proved in­vest­ment per­for­mance com­pared to the cor­re­spond­ing six month pe­ri­od of 2014.

"I am al­so en­cour­aged by the re­sults of our life in­sur­ance busi­ness which re­turned an op­er­at­ing prof­it of $1.4 mil­lion for the six month pe­ri­od to June 2015, where­as there was an op­er­at­ing loss for the com­par­a­tive pe­ri­od last year.

"In Bar­ba­dos, we have ac­quired the as­sets and as­sumed the li­a­bil­i­ties of Bry­dens In­sur­ance Inc from ANSA McAL (Bar­ba­dos) Lim­it­ed and an­tic­i­pate the com­ple­tion of the ac­qui­si­tion of Con­sol­i­dat­ed Fi­nance Co Lim­it­ed in the sec­ond half of 2015."

Dr Sab­ga said he was pleased with the bank's busi­ness re­sults year-to-date and cau­tious­ly op­ti­mistic for the sec­ond half of the year.