QIB has posted a first quarter net profit of QR555mn, up 12.8% on the same period last year.  
The bank’s total assets have gone up 9.1% in the first quarter compared to March last year and 2.5% compared to December 2016 and now stands at QR143.3bn. This is driven by a continued growth in the financing activities.
QIB’s financing activities reached QR99.5bn in March, having grown by 9.3% compared to Q1, 2016, and 1.4% increase compared to December 2016. Customer deposits stood at QR103.9bn, registering a growth of 16.3%, compared to March 2016, and 9% compared to December 2016.
Total income for the three month period that ended in March was QR1,496mn, registering a 16.3% growth compared to QR1,287mn for the same period in 2016.
Income from financing and investing activities has grown by 19.8%  to reach QR1,326mn at the end of the three month period that ended in March compared to QR1,107mn in Q1, 2016, reflecting a “healthy growth” in the bank’s core operating activities.
QIB’s total expenses decreased by 5% to reach QR267mn for the three month period that ended in March as compared to QR280mn in the first quarter of 2016. Strict cost controls supporting higher operating revenues enabled further enhancement of efficiency, bringing down the cost-to-income ratio to 26.3% for the first three months of this year compared with 30.9% for the same period in 2016.
QIB said it was able to maintain the ratio of non-performing financing assets to total financing assets at 1%, one of the lowest in the industry, reflecting the quality of the bank’s financing assets portfolio and its effective risk management framework.
QIB continues to pursue the conservative impairment provisioning policy with the coverage ratio for non-performing financing assets moving up from 87% (in December 2016) to reach 97% as of March.
QIB’s total shareholders’ equity reached QR13.7bn in March. Total capital adequacy of the bank under Basel III guidelines is 16.6% (as of March 2017), higher than the minimum regulatory requirements prescribed by Qatar Central Bank and Basel Committee.
This month, Fitch Ratings affirmed QIB’s long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘A+’ with a ‘stable’ outlook. This, the bank said, reflects its established franchise in Qatar, sound asset quality, solid funding and liquidity profile with a franchise that is more diversified than that of many peers and taking into account the Bank’s adequate profitability, and satisfactory capital and leverage ratios.
Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI) has also affirmed QIB’s financial strength rating (FSR) at ‘A’ with a ‘stable’ outlook.
The bank’s long-term FCR is raised to ‘A+’ while the short-term FCR is affirmed at ‘A2’ on a ‘stable’ outlook.