Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has reported a 5.5% year-on-year growth in net profit to QR955mn in the first three months of this year.

Total assets stood at QR192bn at the end of March 2024, growing 7.7% on an annualised basis.

Financing and investing were the primary drivers for the asset growth with the former expanding by 6% year-on-year to QR124.7bn. Investment securities reached QR48.8bn as on March 31, 2024, up 7.8% compared with the previous year period.

Customer deposits amounted to QR123bn during January-March 2024, registering an annual growth of 4.4%. Financing to deposit ratio was 97% at the end of March 2024 against the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) maximum requirement of 100%, reflecting the bank’s strong liquidity position.

Total income soared 17% year-on-year to QR2.82bn in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024. Net income from financing and investing registered a robust growth of 19% to QR2.58bn for the three months ended March 31 2024.

Total operating expenses stood at QR287mn. Efficient cost containment enabled the bank to bring down the cost-to-income ratio to 17.8% from 18.8% for the same period of last year, which continues to be the lowest in the Qatari banking sector.

QIB was able to manage the ratio of non-performing financing assets to total financing assets at 1.7%, one of the lowest in the industry, reflecting the quality of its financing assets portfolio and effective risk management framework. QIB continues to pursue the conservative impairment policy by building precautionary impairment charge on financing assets for QR365mn for the three months ended March 2024 and maintain a healthy coverage ratio for non-performing financing assets to 92% in the review period.

Total shareholders’ equity reached QR24.6bn. Total capital adequacy of the bank as per the new guidelines of QCB is 20.7%, higher than the minimum regulatory requirements prescribed by the central bank and Basel Committee.

In March 2024, Fitch Ratings had upgraded QIB credit rating to ‘A’ with a "stable" outlook. Capital Intelligence had affirmed the bank’s long-term rating to ‘AA-’ with a "stable" outlook. In June 2023, Moody’s had affirmed the long-term deposit ratings at ‘A1’ with a "stable" outlook.

In the first quarter of 2024, QIB continued its journey of excellence, securing prestigious awards that reaffirm its leadership in Qatar's banking industry. QIB was recognised as the best bank in Qatar by Global Finance, based on its strong performance and continuous effort to provide its customers with the best banking products and services.