DOHA: Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has charted out a five-year global investments strategy to help anchor the Bank’s position as an Islamic financial institution of international stature.
Presenting the Bank’s 2012 financial results at the ordinary general assembly here yesterday the Bank Chairman Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani noted the bank’s international sector has crafted, in collaboration with specialised consultants, a five-year strategic vision for its global investments. This will strengthen international Islamic banking and position of QIB as an Islamic financial institution of global stature. The Bank has registered substantial progress in restructuring of some of its affiliate and sister companies such as the Arab Finance House and QIB UK, he noted.
Locally, QIB has achieved significant progress in the implementation of the new organisational restructuring at all levels. A key decision was the appointment of an eminent banker as Chief Executive Officer, who took up his duties earlier this month.
On the Bank’s future plans, Jassim said QIB aims 2013 to be its year of excellence. “The Bank seeks to adopt efficient tools for innovation and diversification of its credit portfolio, support for small and medium enterprises, expansion of foreign investments, and maximisation of total profits to offset the negative impact of the decrease in the credit facility profit margin.”
QIB recorded a net profit of QR1.24bn for the year 2012. Total Assets of the bank has increased by 25.6 percent compared to QR 73.2bn in 2011. Financing activities continues to be the major growth driver and have now reached QR43.1bn, representing a 45.7 percent growth in 2011.
The 2012 full year financial results presented at the ordinary general assembly noted the Customer Deposits of the bank have registered a strong growth of 55 percent compared to 2011 to reach QR43.1bn, reflecting a well-balanced financial position. QIB’s total income for the year 2012 reached QR3.10bn which is 16 percent higher than QR2.68bn generated last year, reflecting strong growth in the Bank’s core operating activities.
Financing income has grown by 17 percent to reach QR2.08bn at the end of 2012 compared to QR 1.77bn for 2011. Net fee income was QR417.2m compared to QR 300m in 2011 showing year-on-year increase of 39 percent.
Total Shareholders’ Equity of the bank reached QR11.5bn as of 31st December 2012, helping it to maintain its healthy capital adequacy ratios. QIB’s healthy capitalisation and strong asset has enabled Fitch Ratings to affirmed QIB’s Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘A’ with a Stable Outlook. Standard & Poor’s has also assigned counterparty credit ratings of ‘A-’ long-term and ‘A-2’ short-term, with a stable outlook on the long-term.
A statement presented by the Shariah Supervisory Board on the Bank’s operations during 2012 noted it has directly supervised the Bank’s activities and are satisfied that its resolutions have been righteously executed. In general, the transactions referred to the Board were found to be in conformity with the standards adopted by it and, all errors that were committed upon implementation are adjusted.
“The Shariah Supervisory Board has also reviewed the Bank’s financial statements and Profit& Loss Account for the financial year 2012, and believes that they are Shariah-compliant”, the statement noted. However, the Board confirmed that the responsibility for applying the Shariah norms and controls lies mainly on the Bank’s management, as the Board’s liability is confined to giving relevant jurisdictions and reviewing the transactions referred to it, whether they were addressed to it directly or through the Shariah Audit department as implied by the authorities vested in the Shariah Audit department.
The Peninsula
