Kuwait Finance House (KFH), the second-largest Gulf Arab Islamic lender by market value, boosted third quarter net profit by 22.8 percent as it expanded abroad.

The bank made 60.27 million dinars ($215.2 million) in the three months to September 30, it said on the Kuwait bourse Web site.

Global Investment House had forecast in a Reuters survey last month the lender would make a profit of 67 million dinars in the third quarter.

KFH said assets rose by 2.543 billion dinars to 8.247 billion dinars on Sept. 30 compared with a year-earlier.

Average return on assets at the end of September was 3.2 percent and return on equity was 27 percent.

The bank said it aims to expand to Europe and more regions in western, central and southeast Asia, and enter China. It is still considering setting up a bank in Algeria, it said. KFH already operates in Malaysia.

Net income in the nine months to September 30 rose 49 percent to 393.46 million dinars, it said. -Reuters