Qatar’s biggest Islamic bank remains hard to beat. Last year, it offered shareholders a 17.8% return on equity, a 2.1% return on assets and one of the industry’s lowest cost-to-income ratios at 17.4%.
Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), under chief executive Bassel Gamal, managed to reduce its non-performing assets ratio to 1.5% in 2022 from 1.8% the previous year thanks to digitally enhanced risk management tools.
Last year saw a 20% jump in mobile app users and a 48% increase in total digital transactions. As the apps attract more users, branch business is falling (by 44% since 2020), reducing costs and increasing productivity. In core retail lines, such as personal financing and credit cards, QIB’s apps are now handling more than 50% of overall sales volume.
In 2022, QIB launched Qatar’s first digital credit card. It introduced the Growing Deposit account, a digital vehicle that encourages long-term savings in fixed amounts each month – in both US dollars and Qatari riyals. QIB also offers a digital certificate of deposit in one-, two- and three-year tenors.
QIB also unveiled a discreet mode on its apps that enables customers to access accounts safely in public locations. QIB introduced a sneak peek function that allows users to get a quick glimpse at account and credit-card balances without taking the time to log in formally.
Gamal sees cooperation with fintech startups as an important way to diversify Qatar’s mix of small and medium-sized enterprises. He sees their emergence as both a lending opportunity and as competitive pressure to increase internal innovation and risk-taking.
Competition is also growing in the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space. In 2022, QIB’s ESG risk rating from advisory Sustainalytics increased 10.1 points and its score in S&P Global’s corporate sustainability tables improved 16 points.
Last year saw a 20% jump in mobile app users and a 48% increase in total digital transactions
Over the past 12 months, QIB has unveiled a green car-financing programme. It also added a new ESG assessment matrix to aid relationship managers in evaluating new business requests.
The bank has stepped up efforts to incentivize both local communities and employees to go green. For example, it sponsored a beach cleaning initiative during International Coastal Cleanup Day. It has also become a participant in the One Million Trees initiative.
QIB has partnered with Loop, a Qatari-based startup promoting sustainable mobility technologies. It has played a leading role in the government’s environmental sustainability programme, supporting all sectors in the reduction of carbon emissions.
