QIIB has won the ‘Best Islamic Bank in Qatar Award 2018’ during the annual IFN Awards Ceremony organised by REDMoney.
This year’s event was held in the Malaysian Capital, Kuala Lumpur, in the presence of numerous representatives from the Islamic banking sector, other business sectors as well as experts in Islamic banking.
QIIB won the prestigious award on the basis of a majority of experts’ votes cast under several criteria, such as its outstanding performance, profitability, strong financial position, rating, total assets, earnings per share, ability to strengthen its indicators, endeavour to improve Islamic banking and activity in international markets.
QIIB CEO Dr Abdulbasit Ahmed al-Shaibei said, “Receiving this award from a prestigious institution such as RedMoney basically reflects the strength of the Qatari economy and the big opportunities it provides for various institutions operating in Qatar, especially banks, to grow, prosper, reinforce their financial positions and actively contribute to the Qatari economic boom.
“Every award granted to a Qatari institution these days is recognition and honour for the Qatari economy and its various sectors, as this economy was able to overcome the unjust blockade, which tried to undermine our country, its development and prosperity. It is not only a matter of winning but also a matter of achieving the best indicators and growth figures in the entire region.”
Furthermore, he said, “QIIB actively contributes to development projects and plans in line with the board of director’s strategy based on the best globally-adopted banking standards. All indicators achieved by the bank show that we are moving forward in achieving the desired goals both in terms of targeted growth numbers and various financial indicators.”
Al-Shaibei said, “Our strong financial position earned high ratings from international rating agencies with a stable outlook. These agencies affirmed that this is primarily due to the government’s strong commitment toward banks and leading public sector companies supported by substantial sovereign revenues and reserves. Pertaining to QIIB, it is also due to other factors such as the quality of its assets, adequate capital, strong profitability, sound financing, good liquidity, big share in the Islamic banking market and a strong retail presence.
“QIIB’s high standing does not mean we are fully satisfied with what we have achieved. We do not wish to remain complacent. We have greater ambitions as we seek to be the first address in Islamic banking. We have strengthened our tools to achieve this goal through the redistribution and re-engineering of our branches in order to get closer to the largest segment of customers and the adaptation of modern technology such as online, telephone and mobile banking in line with the latest trends in the banking sector.”
At the end of 2018, QIIB achieved a net profit of QR882.1mn, with a growth rate of 6% compared to 2017 and earnings per share standing at QR5.46. In the same period, the bank’s total assets amounted to QR50.3bn and operating revenues to QR2.1bn compared to QR1.9bn at the end of 2017, with a growth rate of 11.9%. The bank’s total equity, at the end of 2018, stood at QR6.8bn, while its capital adequacy under Basel III stood at 16.42%.
