Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has been recognised as “Islamic Bank of the Year 2015” in the Middle East, and, for the third consecutive year, “Islamic Bank of the Year” in Qatar by The Banker magazine.
QIB Group CEO Bassel Gamal described the two awards as “a testament to the collective efforts of our staff, support from all stakeholders and board of directors, clients’ trust, sound business model, and our commitment to continuous improvement.”
“This award recognises and reflects the significant progress that QIB consistently made throughout the last 12 months. We have managed to achieve positive growth during the past year, and we have continued to do so in the first Quarter of 2015,” he said.
The selection process for these awards was based on a number of criteria measuring progress from March 2014 to March 2015. The awards programme aims to reward and promote industry-wide achievements in the global Islamic banking community.
Gamal said QIB’s profits grew to QR400mn for the first quarter of 2015, marking a 19% increase compared to the first quarter of 2014, while total assets reached QR99bn; a 19% increase compared to March last year.
He also said financing activities reached QR65bn from the additional QR15bn, representing a 31% increase compared to the first quarter of 2014, while customer deposits saw a 21% rise to a total of QR71bn.
The Banker magazine has also published a comparative ranking of bank brands worldwide with QIB registering as “the fastest growing financial brand in the world” with a 91% rise in brand value over last year, making it one of the top 50 most valuable brands of all industries in the Mena region. The Brand Finance Banking 500 is an annual ranking of the most valuable brands in global banking that is calculated according to brand strength on a scale of 0 to 100, based on a number of attributes such as emotional connection, financial performance, and sustainability.
International ratings agency Fitch has upgraded QIB’s long-term IDR to ‘A+’ from the previously held ‘A’ with a stable outlook, while QIB’s sukuk funding also had its senior unsecured trust certificates’ long-term rating upgraded to ‘A+’ from ‘A’. Both its trust certificate issuance programme and senior unsecured trust certificates’ long-term rating were upgraded to ‘A+’ from ‘A’.
Gamal: Committed to continuous improvement.
