DOHA: Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), country’s leading Sharia’h compliant lender, was honoured as the “Best Bank in Qatar” at the 2016 edition of the Euromoney Awards for Excellence.
The awards ceremony, which recognises the achievements of banking institutions in the Middle East, was held recently in Dubai.
Launched in 1992, the Euromoney Awards for Excellence were the first of their kind in the financial publishing industry. Twenty-five years later, they remain one of the most prestigious and respected awards in global banking. wThe awards programme seeks to showcase financial institutions that deliver world-class services to their clients and which are successfully able to adapt to changing market conditions.
QIB won the title of “Best Bank in Qatar” on the strength of its customer service, its thoughtfully-curated portfolio of products and services, its steady growth, and its strong performance relative to its local competitors.
“We are pleased to be named ‘Best Bank in Qatar’ at this year’s Euromoney Awards for Excellence,” said Bassel Gamal, Group CEO of QIB.
“This award is a reflection of our robust financial performance, it also speaks to the support of our Board of Directors, and the great effort we put into presenting an exceptional, holistic financial experience to our customers. The award is also a testament that Islamic Banks in general are being able to offer Shari’a compliant products and services that is enabling them to compete across the whole financial sector.”
QIB caters to the unique needs of its clients via specialised programmes such as Tamayuz and Private Banking, and the Aamaly programme, which is aimed at small and medium enterprises SMEs), QIB conducts its domestic business through a network of branches spread across the country, with the key ones including dedicated centers for ladies and dedicated lounges for affluent customers, augmented by more than 165 multi-function ATM installations, 24/7 Phone Banking, QIB Mobile Application and Internet Banking.
The Bank outperformed the market by the end of the financial year 2015 on a number of important metrics. QIB total assets grew by 32 percent , financing activities grew by 46 percent , while total deposits achieved 37 percent growth, and net profit grew by 22 percent compared to end of 2014.
Crucially, QIB has managed to achieve such success while preserving a conservative risk profile and generating excellent value for the Bank’s shareholders.
QIB has been internationally recognised by several financial publications in 2016. Earlier this year Bassel was ranked first among 100 best-performing CEOs of listed companies in the GCC states at the TRENDS/INSEAD 2016 Top CEO awards.
In April, QIB was selected by Global Finance as the ‘Best Islamic Retail Bank’ in the world and ‘Best Islamic Bank’ in Qatar.
The Peninsula