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Standard & Poor’s Affirms QIB’s
Credit Rating at A-/A-2 with Stable Outlook
05 April 2020
The international credit rating agency
Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has affirmed the credit rating of Qatar Islamic
Bank ‘QIB’ at A-/A-2 pointing that the Bank’s outlook is ‘Stable’.
The agency said in a statement published
recently “The
ratings to QIB reflect our view of the bank’s strong activity in terms
of corporate banking franchise, strong capitalization, adequate
liquidity and favorable position as Qatar's largest Islamic bank. We
expect the bank to continue its penetration into the government and
semi-government sectors while protecting its robust private-sector
franchise.”
S&P’s rating report has highlighted the Bank’s funding activities
conducted by the bank are mainly based on the basic customer deposits.
The agency expected customer deposit segment to remain augmented by
strong and lasting relationship with clients. This is in addition to the
bank’s strong activity in the Sukuk market over several years.
The
report also confirmed that the Bank’s long-term rating comes in
conformity with its significant role in the banking sector in the State
of Qatar and matches the Agency rating of the State of Qatar being a
tremendous supporter to the local banking sector.
The
report noted that the Bank’s long-term rating higher than the
stand-alone credit profile (SACP) which incorporates in our view the
prospective exceptional government support if needed, given its wide
client base and shareholder base.
The
Banks has demonstrated steady growth in terms of financial performance
over the past years as a benchmark for the Islamic banks in the region
through embracing cutting-edge banking technologies as well as
customer-centric approach to both its product offering and the overall
banking experience.
Registering increased growth rates for the seventh consecutive year, the
Bank has achieved a record performance in 2019 and continued to make a
strong progress on its digital transformation program accomplishing
further growth across all business segments.
QIB also increased the level of
its customers’ satisfaction, invested in manpower and developed internal
processes and efficiency across the entire group.
Commenting on the rating by S&P, Mr. Bassel Gamal, QIB’s Group CEO,
said: “We are pleased with the revised rating. The rating is a testament
to our strength and commitment to the local economy and banking
industry. The Bank achieved positive financial results during the year
2019 accompanied by a strong performance across all our divisions,
registering strong earnings and returns for the shareholders. As
mentioned in the S&P report, we have robust asset quality indicators
with the ratio of non-performing financing assets to total financing
assets at 1.3 %, one of the lowest in the industry as the bank has
continued its conservative provisions allocations policy where it
covered 100% of the defaulted financing by the end of 2019.