Sheikh Abdullah bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani (left), Vice-Chairman of QIIB; and Dr Abdulbasit Ahmed Al Shaibei, QIIB Chief Executive Officer.
DOHA: QIIB, one of the leading Islamic banks in Qatar, recorded a net profit of QR253.2m for the first quarter of 2018 (Q1-2018), up 7.1 percent compared with QR236.5m posted during the same period in 2017.
Announcing the first quarter results, after a meeting of the QIIB Board of Directors here yesterday, Sheikh Abdullah bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani, Vice-Chairman of QIIB stated: “The Bank’s results clearly reflect its success in maintaining growth and delivering outstanding results for the various financial statements items, which have been positive in terms of key indicators”.
The Bank is working relentlessly to take advantage of the great opportunities being offered by the Qatari economy.
Recent developments have shown that ours is a strong economy that is able to meet all challenges and achieve growth rates that are considered the best in the region, thanks to the unlimited support and guidance of H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Abdullah said.
The challenges are often transformed into opportunities, a fact that QIIB has shown by being strongly and increasingly involved in the financing of various projects under execution at the local level, whether large projects, infrastructure projects or small and medium enterprises. The first quarter financial results actually reflected the success of the Bank in its strategy, which primarily focuses on the local market, he said.
He explained that QIIB is strengthening its financial position and capable of adapting to different market factors and the resultant changes observed during the past period.
“We are working on building effective strategies that benefit from the overall strength of the Qatari banking sector, which has proved during the last period to be one of the most powerful in the region. This is on account of it being able to manage wisely without any adverse impacts due to the blockade imposed on our beloved country,” QIIB Vice-Chairman noted.
“The prosperity and growth that we see on the ground give us optimism about the period ahead. We will continue to seek success based on these, and strive to achieve growth rates, not less than that we have achieved in the past.” QIIB Chief Executive Officer Dr Abdulbasit Ahmed Al Shaibei said the bank’s total revenues amounted to QR517.3m in Q1, 2018 compared with QR460m reported at the end of the first quarter of 2017, representing a growth rate of 12.5 percent.
“QIIB’s total assets at the end of the first quarter rose by 11.3 percent and reached QR50.4bn compared to QR45.3bn during the same period of 2017, while the total deposits reached QR31.1bn representing 11.6 percent growth,” he said.
Bank’s capital adequacy (Basel III) stood at 16.91 percent, reflecting the strength of the bank’s financial position and its prudent risk management policy, the CEO added.
Dr Al Shaibei stated, “These results reflect the efforts made and the systematic implementation of the Board’s plans, which have resulted in a continuous improvement in various indicators. Such an improvement has become possible due to the inherent strength of the Qatari economy and its banking sector.” The failure of the blockade in achieving any of its objectives has given the Qatari economy and the banking sector a strong push forward. “We have proved that challenges create great opportunities, and it is expected that the Qatari economy will continue to achieve remarkable growth, deemed to be among the best in the region,” he said.
Dr Al Shaibei said QIIB will continue to focus strongly on the local market by participating in the financing of various projects and its engagement with various sectors, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), a segment which is very important in the development of the national economy. During the first quarter of 2018, the bank renewed ‘Al Dhameen’ project agreement with Qatar Development Bank (QDB), which facilitates financing SMEs.
In addition to focusing on the local market, Dr Al Shaibei noted, QIIB is carefully considering meaningful and profitable opportunities outside of Qatar, as the bank works on expanding its investment options and building its plans in view of the new situation in the region, especially resulting from the blockade.
Dr Al Shaibei said the good performance of the bank, its continuing growth in net profits and the strong financial position have prompted leading international credit rating agencies to affirm their high rating on QIIB. Fitch and Capital Intelligence have given ‘A’ rating to QIIB, which shows their high trust on the Qatari economy in general and its banking sector in particular.
