Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) Group has completed legal procedures regarding raising the foreign ownership limit up to 100%.
"Pursuant to QIB shareholders’ extraordinary general assembly meeting approval to modify QIB’s Articles of Association in the extraordinary general meeting held on February 22, 2022, QIB announces obtaining all required regulatory approvals from the regulatory authorities concerned, to modify Article (9) of the Articles of Association, to allow raising the foreign ownership limit (up) to 100%," the bank said in a communique to the Qatar Stock Exchange.
QIB would request the authorities concerned to raise the limit of foreign ownership with immediate effect.
The cabinet meeting, chaired by the Prime Minister HE Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani, had last year given approval to four banks, including QIB, to enhancing the FOL up to 100%.
These four banks (QIB, QNB, Commercial Bank and Masraf Al Rayan) together constitute more than 43% of the total market capitalisation as on August 24, 2021.
QIB net earnings of QR3.56bn constituted 15.27% of the total net profit of the listed banks during the year ended 2021. The banking sector, as such, contributed 53.85% to the total net profits of the listed companies during January-December 2021.
The decision (to allow up to 100% FOL) is expected to enhance the country’s economic activity and attract overseas funds in efforts to diversify the economy, the QSE had said, adding it will help attract more investments in the banking sector, which is already robust and profitable.
Qatari banks ranked first in the Arab world in terms of profit indicators, according to the Arab Monetary Fund.
Market sources also said higher FOL would ensure higher weights in the emerging markets of the global indices, which in turn, means new money from international funds to match the new weight.
The indices calculate the weight of each company based on percentage ownership available to investors (local, regional and international).
Qatari banks continued to have the highest average return on equity (ROE) among the lenders in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) at the end of fourth quarter of 2021, according to Kamco Invest.
 
 
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