Doha: QIIB has recorded a net profit of QR937.7m for the year ended December 31, 2020, with a growth rate of 1.2 percent compared to QR927m in 2019. The bank’s earnings per share stood at QR0.55. While the total assets grew by 7.9 percent to QR61.3bn from QR56.8bn during the same period.
QIIB Chairman and Managing Director Sheikh Dr. Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani, said: “The bank’s results for the year ended December 31, 2020 have clearly proven the bank’s ability to maintain the stability of its financial and profitable indicators, while overcoming the factors that shook the world’s markets in 2020, especially after COVID-19 pandemic ramifications. This in itself is a great achievement, which we owe, in the first place, to the wise strategy adopted by the Government and the supervisory authorities to support the Qatari economy in its various sectors, under the directives and the patronage of the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani”.
The results were announced after a meeting of the QIIB Board of Directors, chaired by Sheikh Dr. Khalid. The Board of Directors recommended to the General Assembly of shareholders to distribute cash dividends equivalent to 32.5 percent of the nominal share value (QR0.325 per share), subject to Qatar Central Bank’s approval.
Sheikh Dr. Khalid said: “QIIB implemented a comprehensive plan to deal with and manage the unexpected circumstances and various risks. QIIB’s plan have also focused on enhancing bank’s operational performance, taking advantage of opportunities provided by the Qatari economy and effectively coordinating with various business sectors, to cope with the unforeseen circumstances. This strategy succeeded to a large extent as QIIB’s financial indicators kept growing and we were able to maintain stability, and more importantly, to enhance our operational efficiency”.
He added: “The local market on which we permanently focus, have provided many opportunities and have prevented us from resorting to alternative plans. Despite the unprecedented factors, the banking market was competitive during the past year on different levels. This presents an important motivation for us to improve our performance, enhance innovation and provide the best services and products to our retail and corporate customers. We believe that responding to the market’s competitive factors was the most important feature that distinguished QIIB during the past year”.
Sheikh Dr Khalid also noted that in addition to the stable results, QIIB’s most important achievement during the past year was the bank’s great stride in digital transformation. “We have noticed a real boom in the services presented to customers, with which they can now acquire through various digital channels. We are pleased with our achievements in this field thus far, keeping in mind there’s much more to be accomplished, vis-a-vis digital transformation in the future”.
“In view of the important indicators achieved by QIIB, international credit rating agencies recognised the strength of the bank’s financial position, as Moody’s and Fitch confirmed the bank’s rating at ‘A2’ and ‘A’ respectively with a stable outlook. This was based on several important factors, one of which, is the bank’s high-quality assets. Also, another factor is the bank’s profitability ratios, which are considered strong compared to its local counterparts. The bank has efficiently managed its operational costs and has managed a high-quality investment portfolio. Not to mention the significant decrease in rate of its financial non-performing loans,” Sheikh Dr. Khalid added.
QIIB Chief Executive Officer Dr. Abdulbasit Ahmed Al Shaibei highlighted the bank’s financial results for year 2020, and said: “The bank’s total income at year end amounted to QR2.450bn. The financing activities increased by 9.5 percent to QR40.5bn in 2020 compared to QR37.0bn in 2019. Also, customer deposits grew by 16.2 percent to QR36.2bn in 2020”.
The bank’s total equity stood at QR8.3bn at the end of 2020, while its Capital Adequacy under Basel III registered at 16.6 percent, reflecting the strength of QIIB’s financial position amid various risks in the market.
Dr. Al Shaibei also reiterated QIIB’s efforts during 2020 to control and regulate its operational cost, which has improved operation efficiency; and added that the bank worked on increasing the quality of its financing assets.
He said: “QIIB’s financial results for 2020 confirm the bank’s ability to maintain the ascending pattern of its indicators, despite the unprecedented challenges at hand during the past year for all sectors, particularly the banking sector. The decisive factor that helped the bank achieve the positive results that are announced today, is the strength of the Qatari economy and the important measures taken by the Government and supervisory authorities to face the rapid developments. The Qatari economy has proven to be one of the most important regional and international economies, and it also has proven capability of facing challenges of all types”.
He added: “QIIB was able to make a great stride in digital transformation, when implementing a digital banking transformation plan that was initiated years ago. The plan was moving as per schedule; however, the new and unprecedented circumstances tipped the scales. Behavior and perception towards banking services in their traditional form have changed, which in return prompted the bank to take the lead towards increasing the number of services it provides via digital channels. Accordingly, what the bank was planning to achieve in years, have been completed within a few months”.
Dr. Al Shaibei noted that QIIB was able to provide most services to its customers through alternative channels. He added that the bank witnessed an increase in the number of customers who used the alternative channels.
“The speedy digital transformation and the successful implementation of the relevant plans, have contributed to the improvement of the bank’s operational environment, enhancement of efficiency and reduction in costs, which in turn, reflected on the bank’s results. We hope that this will be further enhanced in the upcoming period as we can benefit from the past year’s lessons and experiences to improve various operation and performance indicators,” he added.
Dr. Al Shaibei also highlighted that QIIB has continued to implement its foreign investment policy, while complying with the controls and standards previously adopted, in terms of foreign investment risks. Thus, QIIB focused on strengthening partnerships, which have proven to be beneficial and lucrative so as to enhance the bank’s financial position and maximise returns for shareholders.
He added that the bank launched several new retail and corporate products and services during 2020, such as the salary card, corporate cash deposit card and domestic worker card, as well as numerous financing offers targeting various categories such as real estate financing offers, personal financing, vehicle financing and special card offers.
“The bank found appreciation and recognition at the local and international levels during the past year, since international rating agencies affirmed the bank’s high rating. QIIB also won a series of awards, the last of which was “Qatar Most Innovative Islamic Retail Bank” for 2020 by the Islamic Retail Banking Awards Committee in cooperation with the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom,” Dr. Al Shaibei said.
He also highlighted that QIIB has taken the lead and a pioneering role in Islamic banking. The prestigious Red Money Institution also honoured QIIB with four awards as part of the IFN Awards 2020 in recognition of the bank’s achievements, especially the issuance of permanent instruments within the first tranche of capital, valued at $300m. Red money considered many factors for awarding the bank these four prizes, including “Deal of the Year” and “Capital Deal of the Year” for 2019.
“Those factors were the great success achieved by the bank in issuing the sukuk, and the high confidence and credibility it built with investors, who were attracted by the bank’s Sukuks. QIIB also won the “Best Islamic Digital Bank in Qatar” for 2020 from the World Union of Arab Bankers, as well as the prestigious “PCI” certificate in the field of information security for the fifth time in a row,” he added.
Dr. Al Shaibei went on to reiterate QIIB’s commitment to social responsibility. He said as part of the bank’s commitment to its role in serving the Qatari community, it has continued to provide support and assistance to a wide range of non-profit activities and events during 2020. The bank allocated 2.5 percent of its profits to a fund that supports sports, cultural, social and charitable activities, to contribute towards to advancement of the efforts aimed at achieving the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030.
“QIIB also provided support to Qatar Banking Studies and Business Administration Secondary Schools for boys and girls, since it is deemed an important tool in developing national competencies and empowering citizens in the banking sector. The bank also supported the education, qualification and training of Qatari young men and women and provided them with an in-house training in banking and administration”.
“Furthermore, the bank made many contributions that go towards supporting sports, cultural, charitable and religious activities to deepen compassion and solidarity and in order to contribute to the preservation of our society’s traditions. Also, in the field of human resources, QIIB is actively engaged in supporting and empowering Qatari men and women, who wish to join the bank’s staff and is fully committed to the government vision to empower citizens. Therefore, the bank is working closely with the authorities concerned to implement plans and programmes that guarantee the recruitment of more Qataris in the bank, prepare them to take various positions and provide them with the necessary expertise through qualification and training programs, to become banking leaders in future,” Dr. Al Shaibei added.
