Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) recorded a net profit worth QR1.42bn in the first half of 2020, while total assets stood at QR165.8bn, or a 1.4% growth compared to December 2019, and a 7.2% increase over June last year driven by continued growth in the financing and investing activities.
Financing activities reached QR112.3bn, having grown by 5% compared to June 2019. Customer deposits stood at QR106.6bn in line with June 2019, QIB said in a statement yesterday.
Total income for the six months’ period ended June 30, 2020 was QR3.97bn, registering a 6.4% growth compared to QR3.73bn for the same period in 2019. Income from financing and investing activities registered a 5.2% growth to reach QR3.55bn compared to QR3.38bn for the first half of 2019, reflecting a healthy performance in its core operating activities despite the support provided to customers impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Total expenses for the first six months of 2020 was QR551mn. Strict cost controls supported by higher operating revenues enabled further enhancement of efficiencies with cost to income ratio improving from 23.5% to 21.1% in the first half of 2020, “the best in the Qatari banking sector.”
QIB’s efficient risk management framework has ensured that the H1 2020 results have not been materially impacted by the events related to Covid-19. QIB was able to contain the ratio of non-performing financing assets to total financing assets at 1.4%, reflecting the quality of the bank’s financing assets portfolio.
QIB continues to pursue the conservative impairment provisioning policy and has more than doubled the financing impairment charges to QR602mn in the first half of 2020 compared to QR298mn in 2019, and continues to maintain 100% coverage ratio for non-performing financing assets. The bank continues to take necessary actions and precautions for safety and well-being of its employees, customers, and to the community at large.
The bank’s total shareholders’ equity stood at QR16.8bn, up by 7.6% compared to June 2019. Total capital adequacy of the bank under Basel III guidelines is 18.6% as of June 2020, higher than the minimum regulatory requirements prescribed by the Qatar Central Bank and the Basel Committee.
In June 2020, Moody's Investors Service affirmed the long-term deposit ratings of QIB at “A1” with a stable outlook. In November 2019, Fitch Ratings affirmed QIB at 'A' with a stable outlook. In April 2020, Standard & Poor’s affirmed the bank’s credit rating at ‘A-’ with a stable outlook. In May 2020, Capital Intelligence affirmed the bank’s long-term currency rating (LTCR) of ‘A+’ with a stable outlook.
In H1 2020, QIB received 17 prestigious awards from well-respected international publications. As a testament to its leadership in the financial sector, QIB was awarded "Best Islamic Bank in the Middle East and Qatar" by The Banker magazine (Financial Times Group), as well as "Best Islamic Bank in Middle East and Qatar" and "World’s Best Islamic SME Bank" by Global Finance magazine.
QIB received "Qatar's Best Digital Bank" and "Best Mobile Banking App" by The Asset magazine, a leading financial publication in Asia-Pacific. Furthermore, QIB received four awards from the Asian Banker magazine: "Best Islamic Retail Bank in the Middle East and Qatar", "Best Digital Bank in Qatar", and "Best SME Bank in Qatar."
It was also recognised as "Best Islamic Bank in Qatar" by Islamic Finance News (IFN) readers, the world’s leading Islamic finance publication; and was named the "Best Islamic Bank in Qatar" in the Middle East Banking Awards, presented by EMEA Finance, the leading finance magazine in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
These awards come in recognition of the significant progress QIB has made in establishing itself as a leading banking institution in the Middle East, while cementing its leadership position in Qatar.