Jordanian banking giant, Arab Bank Plc, pumped an additional A$25 million of equity capital into its Australian banking arm last year as it embarked on a program to shrink its balance sheet.Arab Bank Australia also reported a loss of $243,000 in annual financial accounts submitted to ASIC after suffering a sharp slide in fee income derived from commissions and foreign exchange activities.According to the bank's balance sheet for the 12 months to the end of December, loans and advances to borrowers were sliced by 11 per cent to $606 million, while deposits fell eight per cent to $759 million.In a written review of the bank's performance, directors said the business contraction was part of a strategic plan."Throughout 2017 the bank continued to execute its strategic plan to diversify its portfolio thereby strengthening its resilience to market cyclical variations," the board stated in the accounts."This has resulted in a reduction in the portfolio in 2017."Directors said the bank would continue to focus on operating costs and efficiency to restore profitability.Arab Bank has operated in Australia since 1994 through a national network of eight branches.The company has been developing a digital platform that is expected to deliver a mobile banking service some time in 2018.The poor Australian result had little impact on the parent company's earnings performance last year, which rose more than $US135 million to $US535 million.The Arab Bank group is Jordan's largest company and accounts for more than 28 per cent of the market worth of the country's stock exchange.However, there appears to have been a communication problem between the parent and the Australian arm in recent months over the reported performance of the subsidiary.According to disclosures made by Arab Bank PLC to Jordanian investors, the Australian operation posted a small profit of $A61,000 in 2017, rather than the loss that was reported to ASIC.