(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), the country's leading Islamic bank, has had its Fitch rating of Long Term IDR upgraded to 'A+' from the previously held 'A' with a stable outlook, according to a statement yesterday.
QIB's Sukuk Funding Ltd also had its senior unsecured trust certificates' Long-Term Rating upgraded to 'A+' from 'A'; while both its trust certificate issuance programme and senior unsecured trust certificates' Long-Term Rating were upgraded to 'A+' from 'A'.
Bassel Gamal, QIB Group's CEO, welcomed Fitch's confirmation of the Bank's financial strength.
"The upgraded ratings confirm the strong financial position of Qatar, the banking sector outlook and QIB's financial vigour, which has been steadily improving in line with our long term objectives," he said.
"In 2014, the Bank managed to strengthen the key performance and risk metrics through proactive financial and risk management. QIB maintained the ratio of non-performing financing assets to total financing assets at one percent, one of the lowest in the industry, reflecting the quality of our financing assets portfolio and its effective risk management framework," added Gamal.
"Further, QIB continues to pursue the conservative impairment policy with the coverage ratio for non-performing financing assets reaching 101 percent as of December 2014, up from 94 percent compared to December 2013."
"To further strengthen the Bank's capital base and support the future business growth, the latest QIB's General Assembly approved the issuance of Basel III compliant Additional Tier 1 Sukuk up to a maximum amount of QR5bn."
"This is still subject to approval of Qatar Central Bank and the regulatory authorities, but a very positive development for our ongoing and future growth," concluded Gamal.
In 2014, QIB's net profit reached QR1.6bn, representing a growth of 20 percent compared to 2013. Currently, total assets of the Bank stand at QR96bn, having increased 24 percent compared to the previous year.
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