DOHA: QIIB one of Qatar’s leading Islamic lenders posted a net profit of QR223.1m for the first quarter (Q1) of 2016 up 5.1 percent compared to QR212.3m for the same period last year.

The Bank’s total assets at the end of Q1 2016 increased to QR41.3bn registering a growth of 11.4 percent; while the bank’s financing portfolio increased to QR25.7bn compared to QR23.2bn at the end of the same period last year reflecting a growth of 11 percent.

Announcing the results Chairman and Managing Director of QIIB Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani said yesterday the results clearly reflected the success of the Bank’s strategy in continuing to grow and facing market challenges. The results confirm that QIIB continues to enhance its financial position and strength and moves forward. The bank was also able to successfully cope with the internal and external factors affecting the market during the last period.

“Current large-scale projects in the domestic market are capable of creating significant growth opportunities for many sectors particularly banking. And with QIIB’s focus on the domestic market and specific opportunities with limited risks available externally continuous growth driven by good figures is achievable and on hand” Sheikh Dr Khalid added.

“We attribute our success and strength to the Qatari economy which continues to achieve excellent growth rates in various sectors. We are also proud of the development of Qatar’s economy with the support and under the patronage of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.” The market factors prompted QIIB to exert greater efforts and develop suitable plans particularly in terms of credit and liqudity he added.

Abdulbasit Ahmed Al Shaibei CEO of QIIB pointed out that the total revenue of the Bank for Q1 2016 reached QR400.3m witnessing a growth a double-digit growth of 13.6 percent compared to QR352.4m during the same period last year.

QIIB’s deposits increased and reached QR27.9bn which represents a growth rate of 10.8 percent compared with the same period in 2015. Capital adequacy under Basel III reached 17 percent which reflects the strength of the bank’s financial position. Commenting about the future growth prospects Al Shaibei added: “The large number of infrastructure projects and major projects provides continuous growth avenues for most sectors including the banking sector. All experts agree that Qatar’s economy will be one of the few in the region to continue achieving strong growth figures thanks to its high liquidity strong reserves and success in diversification initiatives. We at QIIB rely on all these factors and we were able to achieve this growth in the first quarter of 2016.”

Al Shaibei also indicated that QIIB is in the process of issuing the first tranche (as part of its Tier 1 Sukuk) of QR1bn in accordance with the Basel III requirements. Besides supporting the Bank’s Tier 1 capital (in accordance with the Basel III requirements) the Sukuk will support QIIB’s ability to finance and improve its capital ratio.

In terms of overseas expansion Al Shaibei pointed out that the bank’s external plans currently focused on the Moroccan market where it was waiting for the final approval from the Bank Al Maghrib for the opening of a joint venture bank in collaboration with ‘Credit Immobilier Et Hotelier Sa’ in Morocco. The JV bank will be ready to go once the final approval from the authorities in Morocco is received.The Peninsula