Faster growth in financing and fee-based incomes helped Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) record a 14% jump year-on-year in net profit to QR1.61bn during January-September this year.
Total assets of the bank have increased by 9% to QR135bn, driven by a continued growth in the financing activities, a QIB spokesman said.
Financing assets have now reached QR97bn, having added QR14bn, or a 17% increase. Customer deposits rose 11% to QR96bn.
Total shareholders’ equity of the bank reached QR14bn, an increase of 7% compared to September 2015.
The bank also raised Basel III-compliant additional Tier 1 capital by issuing perpetual sukuk for QR2bn. Capital adequacy ratio now stands at 15.9% as per Basel III guidelines issued by the Qatar Central Bank.
Total income grew more than 24% to QR4.07bn with earnings from financing and investments expanding 24% to QR3.52bn and net fee and commission income by more than 15% to QR397mn.
QIB was able to maintain the ratio of non-performing financing portfolio to gross financing portfolio at less than 1%, one of the lowest in the industry, reflecting the quality of the bank’s financing assets portfolio and its effective risk management framework, the spokesman highlighted.
The bank continued to pursue the “conservative” impairment policy with a coverage ratio for non-performing financing portfolio at 89% at the end of September 30, 2016.
In April 2016, global credit rating agency Fitch had affirmed QIB’s long-term issuer default rating at ‘A+’ with a “stable” outlook, reflecting the bank’s established franchise in Qatar, sound asset quality, solid funding and liquidity profile with a franchise that is more diversified than that of many peers and also taking into account its adequate profitability, and satisfactory capital and leverage ratios.
Another international credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has also retained QIB’s counterparty credit rating at ‘A-’ and Capital Intelligence has reaffirmed QIB’s financial strength rating of ‘A’ with “stable” outlook.