QIB Chairman Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani (right) and QIB Vice-Chairman Abdullatif bin Abdulla Al Mahmoud attending the bank’s General Assembly Meeting, yesterday. Pic: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula
Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) Chairman Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani stated yesterday that the government’s highly positive policy initiatives have helped strengthen QIB’s ability to deliver a solid 2019 results and maintain its position as the best Islamic bank in Qatar.
Presenting QIB’s Board of Directors report before the General Assembly meeting yesterday, Sheikh Jassim said the bank’s market share rose to 41.1 percent of total Islamic assets in the country, consolidating its position as the market leader.
Comminuting on the bank’s 2019 performance, Sheikh Jassim said the year witnessed several regional and international developments; such as the accelerated trade tensions between the US and China, economic pressure on a number of countries ad the rising political tensions in the region, which largely weakened global growth. But despite these adverse conditions, Qatar’s economy continued to progress as planned.
Supported by the government’s rational political and economic policies, the GDP is likely to increase from 2.9 percent in 2019 to 3.1 percent in 2020. The government announced a number of mega projects to develop the gas industry, encourage national industries, and support the various economic and production sectors in the country. Qatar Islamic Bank was a beneficiary of these positive policies, the Chairman said. The bank’s profitability grew at a compounded average growth (CAG) rate of 14.4 percent in the last five years, compared to an average growth of 5.5 percent in the overall banking system, he added.
Sheikh Jassim noted that QIB continued to manage the liquidity pressure confidently and safely. In addition to Qatar’s continuous support to the financial sector, QIB opened new channels of cooperation with financial and banking institutions in various Asian and European countries. “We also took internal initiatives to broaden the base of our activities in order to have a balanced liquidity position and consequently maintain the financial ratios required by local and international monetary authorities.
On the bank’s digital initiatives, he said QIB has managed to venture into the digital banking effectively and became a leading digital bank locally and regionally embracing technology. “The bank has upgraded its protection solutions and systems, which has led to an improved database security and gave additional thrust to the Bank’s digital transformation.”
On the operations of QIB’s affiliates and external branches, the chairman noted the restructuring process has improved the returns and yielded better results. “ QInvest’s 2020 results is expected to boost driven by cost-cutting initiatives. At the same time, QIB-UK is expected to post positive results despite the Brexit challenges. The Bank is also working hard to reach stable results for both the Arab Finance House and the Sudan branch.”
On QIB’s Qatarisation efforts, the Chairman said the bank increased the number of Qatari university students benefitting from its sponsorship program to accommodate national graduates and invest in their education. In this regard, Qataris now exceed 29 percent out of the total number of employees. Strategic initiatives were also launched in cooperation with INJAZ Qatar to sponsor a country-wide financial literacy program that targets undergraduates and provides interactive sessions over a five-week training, which has so far benefitted 366 students since its launch in September 2018.
