(MENAFN- The Peninsula) By Satish Kanady I The Peninsula
QIB Chairman, Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber AI Thani stated yesterday the Bank managed the liquidity pressure that resulted from the political situation over the last 18 months efficiently and competently. In addition to the State's direct support to financial and banking institutions to build their capacities, QIB expanded its cooperation with financial and banking institutions in many Asian and European countries as well.
'We took internal initiatives to broaden the base of our activities in order to have a balanced liquidity position while maintaining the financial ratios required by local and international regulatory authorities, Sheikh Jassim said while addressing the bank's Annual General Meeting and Extraordinary General Meeting.
The Bank chairman noted that for the second successive year, Qatari economy achieved higher-than-expected GDP growth in 2018, at a time when global growth began to slow down in several developed markets.
While oil prices recovered on the regional level in early 2018, they sharply dropped later due to slow global growth. Qatar outperformed its regional counterparts in 2018 despite the current political crisis, which the State managed to turn from a challenge to an opportunity for revival and positive initiatives. 'One evidence was the flow of foreign funds into the banking sector, and the strong performance of the securities markets. Amid all this, your Bank maintained its leading position as Qatarʼs first and largest Islamic bank, with a market share of 42.3 percent of total Islamic assets, Sheikh jassim said.
He said QIB's assets increased in multiples to reach QR153.2bn, and its profitability grew at a compounded average growth rate of 15.6 percent in the past five years, allowing the bank to occupy the second position among its peer national banks.
In terms of Qatar banks' transformation into digital banking, Sheikh Jassim added, QIB took the lead in the local market. Long hours of business design, IT development and organizational preparations were spent in cooperation with specialists from a highly qualified international consultancy firm. 'We invested financial and human efforts in the ICT infrastructure to create additional capabilities, provide and upgrade modern technologies, support new solutions, and secure cutting-edge information security systems. QIB took the lead in providing retail and corporate financial services via its advanced mobile and internet applications, in addition to the integrated services it provides through the call center, which uses the latest technologies, he said.
QIB also worked to improve the performance and results of its local and foreign subsidiaries and associates. The bank affiliate entities in the UK, Lebanon and Sudan achieved satisfactory results. The Bank, based on its foreign investment strategy, exited successfully its investment in the Asian Finance Bank.
All agenda items proposed by the Board of Directors were passed at the AGM/ EGM, including the proposal to distribute 50 percent cash dividends of the nominal value per share, i.e. QR5 per share.
The EGM also gave the nod to amend the articles of association of the Bank to comply with the listing condition of dividing the book value per share to QR1, instead of QR10, as per the directive of the market regulator.
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