His Excellency, Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani, Chairman of Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has announced that QIB has achieved net profit attributable to shareholders of QAR 3,555 Million for the fiscal year 2021 compared to QAR 3,065 Million for the year 2020, thus marking an increase by 16% over last year with basic earnings per share of QAR 1.42 compared to QAR 1.21 as at 31 December 2020.
QIB Board of Directors proposed a dividend distribution to shareholders of QAR 0.575 per share i.e. 57.5% of the nominal share value, subject to approval of Qatar Central Bank and QIB’s General Assembly.
Total Assets of the Bank have increased by 11.2% compared to 2020 and now stands at QAR 194 Billion driven by the growth in the financing and investing activities. Financing activities registered a strong annual growth of 7.8% to reach QAR 128 Billion compared to QAR 119 Billion as at 31 December 2020. Investing activities have grown sharply by 33.5% to reach QAR 44 Billion compared to QAR 33 Billion as at 31 December 2020. Customer Deposits also registered a robust growth of 11% to reach QAR 131 Billion compared to QAR 118 Billion as at 31 December 2020. The Bank’s strong asset liability management capabilities enabled it to significantly improve the Financing to Deposit ratio from 101% as at 31 Dec 2020 to now reach 98%, reflecting the Bank’s strong liquidity position.
Total Income for the year ended 31 December 2021 reached QAR 8.1 Billion registering a growth of 2.2% compared to QAR 7.9 Billion for the year ended 31 December 2020. Income from financing and investing activities was QAR 7.1 Billion for the year ended 31 December 2021 with income from financing activities having grown by 1%, despite low level of global interest rates and the support provided to the customers impacted by Covid-19 pandemic. Net fee and commission income has grown by 10% compared to last year and have reached QAR 726 Million, reflecting positively on the Bank’s core operating and banking services activities.
Total general and administrative expenses of the Bank were QAR 1.1 Billion for the year ended 31 December 2021 and were contained at 1% below the year ended 31 December 2020. Bank’s drive to improve the efficiency supported by strict cost management measures helped in bringing down the cost-to-income ratio from 20.1% in 2020 to 18.1% for 2021, which is the lowest in the Qatari Banking sector.
QIB was able to manage the ratio of non-performing financing assets to total financing assets around 1.4%, similar to levels as at 31 December 2020 and one of the lowest in the industry, reflecting the quality of the Bank’s financing assets portfolio and its effective risk management framework. Given the uncertainties related to long-term impact of the pandemic on various business segments and geographies in which the clients operate, the Bank created precautionary impairment charge on financing assets for QAR 1.3 Billion in the year ended 31 December 2021, which is 5% higher than the amount set aside in the previous year. QIB continues to pursue the conservative impairment policy maintaining a healthy 95% coverage ratio for non-performing financing assets as of December 2021.
Total Shareholders’ Equity of the Bank reached QAR 20.7 Billion, an increase of 13.3% compared to QAR 18.3 Billion as at 31 December 2020. As of December 2021 the Total Capital adequacy of the Bank under Basel III guidelines is 18.9%, well above the regulatory minimum requirements prescribed by Qatar Central Bank and Basel Committee.
Commenting on 2021 end of year financial results, His Excellency Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, QIB Chairman said: “In 2021, QIB has accorded the highest priority to the safety of our employees, our customers, and business continuity, ensuring that the Bank is resilient against potential risks and well-poised to benefit from the recovery. QIB managed to maintain and strengthen its leadership in the Qatari banking sector and continued to be the largest Islamic Bank and the largest private Bank in Qatar.”
He added: “The performance of the Bank in terms of growth, portfolio and profitability is a result of the focused execution of our business strategy over the past few years. Our continuing efforts to promote a cashless ecosystem and enable digital access to financial services proved invaluable in an environment of social distancing and restrictions on movement. Our strategy, based on a customer-centric approach, enabled us to respond to the needs of our customers and launch digital alternatives for them to stay connected and meet their financial needs.”
“We launched several initiatives like the all-new QIB Mobile App and the Corporate Mobile App giving 24/7 access to our retail and corporate customers to their banking accounts. We introduced for the first time in Qatar a Chatbot armed with proprietary artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, a Video Banking solution, the brokerage platform, and continued to invest in digital payments with the introduction of Apple Pay and Visa Direct. We continued to provide strong support to our SME customers, through our own initiatives and by participating in the QDB & Qatar Central Bank stimulus programs in order to smooth the Covid-19 negative impact to their business continuity.” He continued.
Sheikh Jassim also highlighted the importance of the recent release of the QIB’s first sustainability report in line with the Qatar National Vison 2030 and the National Strategy for the Environment and Climate Change. The report highlighted QIB’s efforts to contribute to the accomplishment of global sustainable development goals and highlights the bank’s achievements in implementing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards.
“This year’s financial results confirm the Bank’s strong foundation and reflect the firmness, resilience and stability of the Qatari banking sector and the national economy. Our sustainable and stable business model has been recognized through our credit ratings from all the international rating agencies and translated into numerous recognitions and awards by the most credible international financial publications”, he added.
Sheikh Jassim concluded the Board meeting by expressing his profound gratitude to QIB’s shareholders and customers for their trust in the Bank, and his appreciation to the Board of Directors and all Bank employees for their dedication and continuous efforts towards achieving positive results and continuous improvements during this difficult period”.
In November 2021, Fitch Ratings affirmed the Bank’s credit rating at ‘A’ and Moody’s Investors Service, (“Moody’s”) affirmed the Long-term deposit ratings at “A1”. In October 2021, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) affirmed the Bank’s credit rating at ‘A-’ following the upgrade in the Bank’s Stand-Alone Credit Profile earlier in 2021. Capital Intelligence Ratings (CI) has also affirmed the Bank’s Long-term Currency Rating (LTCR) of ‘A+’ in April 2021.
Throughout 2021, Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) has received more than 40 prestigious awards and recognitions from well-respected international publications including The Banker (part of Financial Times Group), Forbes Middle East, Global Finance, The Asian Banker, Digital Banker, Asiamoney, IFN, as well as The Asset Triple A. Mr. Bassel Gamal, QIB Group’s CEO also entered Forbes’ prestigious Top CEOs in the Middle East ranking.
These accolades span across different offerings of the bank reflecting QIB’s commitment and efforts to meet the ongoing needs of all customer segments, individuals, SMEs, and Corporates. It is also a testament to the bank’s continuous investment towards its digital transformation plan, leading in first to market digital banking innovations across a wide range of products and services.
QIB received the prestigious ‘Bank of The Year in Qatar’ from the Banker (part of Financial Times) for a second consecutive year. The Banker also honored the Bank as the ‘Islamic Bank of the Year in Qatar’ for the 9th consecutive year as well as ‘Islamic Bank of the Year in The United Kingdom’.
As part of Forbes Middle East Magazine’s annual ranking of the top 100 listed companies in the region for 2021, QIB was ranked #18 in the Middle East, and 2nd top listed company in Qatar. As part of the “Top 1000 World Banks” report published by the “The Banker” magazine, QIB was ranked second in Qatar and 248th position in the global ranking. QIB was also named Best Performing Bank in Qatar by The Banker Magazine.
QIB also received 6 awards from Global Finance namely: ‘Best Consumer Digital Bank’, ‘Best Online Product Offerings’, ‘Best in Lending’, ‘Best Online Portal’, ‘Best Open Banking APIs’, and ‘Best SME Bank in Qatar’. The Magazine also recognized the bank’s efforts to strengthen the Islamic Bank sector locally and internationally with ‘Best Islamic Corporate Bank – Global’ and ‘Best Islamic Bank in the Middle East, Qatar, and Sudan’ awards. The bank was awarded two further accolades at Global Finance’s 2021 Innovators Awards, with both QIB’s Domestic Workers Digital Accounts and Integrated Services on PoS for Corporate and SME Customers winning ‘Outstanding Innovations in Islamic Finance’.
QIB received three prestigious awards, ‘Best Retail Bank in Qatar’, ‘Best Digital Bank in Qatar’ and ‘Best SME Bank in the Middle East and Qatar’ by The Asian Banker and was also awarded by Global Banking & Finance Review Awards as ‘Best Bank Transformation in Qatar’, ‘Best Islamic Digital Bank in Qatar’, ‘Best Islamic Retail Bank in Qatar’ and ‘Best Islamic Corporate Bank in Qatar’.
The Digital Banker Magazine’s Middle East & Africa Innovation Awards 2021 awarded QIB with ‘Best Digital Bank in Qatar’ and ‘Best Retail Bank in Qatar’ and Mr. Bassel Gamal was named ‘CEO of the Year in Qatar’. At the regional level, QIB received another three awards: ‘Best Mobile Banking’, ‘Best Digital Account Opening’, ‘Excellence in Digital Innovation’ in the Middle East.
Source: Qatar Islamic Bank
