DOHA: Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Qatar’s leading Islamic bank, said its net profit attributable to the shareholders of the bank amounted to QR400m for the first quarter of 2015 representing a growth of 19 percent over the first quarter of 2014.
Total assets of the Bank has increased also by 19 percent compared to March 2014 and now stands at QR99 bn driven by a continued growth in the core investing and financing activities.
Financing activities that have now reached QR65bn having added QR15bn representing 31 percent increase compared to first quarter 2014. Customer Deposits of the bank have registered a growth of 21 percent compared to end of March 2014 and now stand at QR71 bn, allowing the bank to achieve a financing to deposit ratio of 91 percent. Total Shareholders’ Equity of the bank reached QR12 bn, an increase of 6 percent as compared to March 2014.
Total Income for the three months ended 31 March 2015 has reached QR950m registering 13 percent growth compared to QR840m by end of March 2014. Income from financing and investing activities has grown by 12 percent to reach QR817m at the end of March 2015 compared to QR728 m for the three month period ended March 2014. Net fee and commission income has registered a growth of 17 percent compared to the first quarter of 2014 to reach QR100m for the three months ending March 2015.
QIB was able to further improve the ratio of non-performing financing assets to gross financing assets to around one percent, one of the lowest in the industry, reflecting the quality of the bank’s financing assets portfolio and its effective risk management framework. The bank continued to pursue the conservative impairment policy with an improved coverage ratio for non-performing financing portfolio at 104 percent as of March 2015.
The international ratings agency Fitch in its report issued in March 2015 has upgraded QIB Long Term IDR to ‘A+’ from the previously held ‘A’ with a stable outlook. Capital Intelligence (CI) has rated QIB’s Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of ‘A’, with ‘Stable’ Outlook in view of the significant improvement in financing asset quality and stabilized Return on Average Assets. Standard & Poor’s Rating Services have rated QIB’s Counterparty Credit Rating at “A-“with a stable outlook.
QIB has received a number of prestigious awards reflecting the results and achievements of the businesses, including the title of ‘Best Islamic Bank in Qatar’, which the Bank received from Euromoney, The Banker, World Finance, Qatari Enterprise Agility Awards and Islamic Finance News (IFN).QIB also received ‘Best Treasury Products Management’ award Banker Middle East, ‘Best SME Islamic Finance Provider for the GCC & MENA’ from Global Banking & Finance Review, ‘Best Co-Branded Credit Card’ from Global Banking & Finance Review, ‘Best Financial Brand Qatar’ from Global Brands Magazine and ‘Best Call Centre customer experience of all banks in Qatar’ from Ethos Integrated Solutions.
The Peninsula
