Pak-Qatar Family Takaful opens new branch

Karachi—Pak-Qatar Family Takaful Limited (PQFTL) has inaugurated a new branch in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of Karachi. This new branch will create great convenience and provide a wide range of Takaful services to a vast number of consumers, living in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and surrounding areas. The inauguration ceremony was graced by senior management officials and prominent professionals.

The Zonal Head of TDT (Individual) Haq Nawaz said that the opening of this new branch is a significant milestone in the progressive journey of the company, as it reflects the company’s customer-centric approach, by enhancing the outreach and ‘accessibility’ for our valuable customers. The opportunity to continue the company’s high quality customer service is very exciting for me, as we continue to expand to new locations all over the country.

Kamran Saleem CFO of PQFTL, while congratulating the team for this successful endeavour said, “With these new branches, we’re not simply expanding our business, but making a commitment towards promoting Takaful among the masses. Our primary aim is to transform the financial industry in Pakistan by offering our highly competitive products and services, while realigning it with Islamic principles.”

The Country-Head of Sales and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of PQFTL Menhas expressed his delight about this wonderful team-effort and said that the key to successfully serving a community and higher cultural values, along with the company’s brand, is to find and nurture the most talented, like-minded Takaful professionals in the region. 

The team has shown remarkable diligence for maintaining the company’s stature as a pioneer and a leading innovator of Takaful in Pakistan. Nasir Ali Syed CEO, Waqas Ahmad Chief Operating Officer, Saqib Zeeshan Head of TDT Corporate and several other senior executives were also present during the grand inaugural ceremony.

(Pakistan Observer / 12 August 2016)

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Qatar International Islamic Bank plans Tier 1 Sukuk issue

The meeting delegated the bank’s board of directors' to decide the size of each issuance ,terms and conditions and issuance currency.

Doha-based Gulf Times quoted QIIB CEO Abdulbasit A al-Shaibei as saying the Sukuk would be issued before the end of April to boost the bank’s capital ratio. 

(C P I Financial / 30 March 2016)

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Qatar Islamic Bank to boost capital via bond sales

Qatar’s biggest Islamic bank plans to sell bonds to help boost core capital to comply with Basel III banking standards.

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) expects to issue a Tier 1 capital-boosting bond between this quarter and the third quarter, the bank’s chief financial officer said yesterday. The Doha-listed lender in February received shareholder approval to issue up to 5 billion Qatari riyals (Dh5.04bn) to increase its Tier 1 or core capital in line with Basel III banking standards.

The bond will have a perpetual tenor.

“We have taken approval for 5bn Qatari riyals worth of issuance but at this point when we look at our organic growth requirements and we need up to 2bn riyals only and for the other 3bn riyals we have taken approval from our shareholders in case there are growth opportunities we could tap into and not have to go through the entire approval process,” Gourang Hemani said on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai.

“It is going to be a private placement, most likely within Qatar. We are looking somewhere between the second quarter and third quarter.”

Banks in the Arabian Gulf are issuing capital-boosting bonds as part of raising new funds through capital tools to foster growth and comply with the new Basel III banking rules, which will be phased out by 2019.

The IMF expects Qatar’s economy to grow 7.1 per cent this year and 6.5 per cent next year.

“We see the [credit] market growing on average of 10-12 per cent [a year] over the next two to three years,” said Mr Hemani. “I don’t see why we shouldn’t participate in the growth story.”

QIB’s net profit rose 19 per cent to 400 million riyals in the first quarter of this year, compared to a year earlier. Total income grew 13 per cent in the first quarter to 950m riyals, compared with the year-earlier period.

(The National Business / 18 May 2015)

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Dubai: Qatar Islamic Bank plans $549 mln Tier 1 sukuk

DUBAI, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) plans to raise up to 2 billion riyals ($549.4 million) through a capital-boosting sukuk; the latest Gulf bank eyeing debt markets to replenish its reserves after a period of strong lending growth.

Qatar's largest sharia-compliant institution by assets announced the sukuk after reporting fourth-quarter net profit that was up an estimate-beating 30.4 percent year on year, according to Reuters calculations.

Unlike European peers that have been dogged by capital concerns in recent years, Gulf banks have increasingly turned to capital-enhancing bonds for positive reasons, seeking to build on existing growth and diversify their sources of capital.

New Basel III banking standards, due to come into full force in 2019, will also oblige banks to set aside more capital.

A number of Saudi banks have used the local-currency sukuk market to raise instruments that enhance their Tier 2 -- or supplementary -- capital in the past two years, while banks from the United Arab Emirates have also sold bonds and sukuk that enhance core Tier 1 capital.

The latest was a Tier 1 sukuk from Dubai Islamic Bank , completed last week.

On Sunday QIB said that its board had proposed a Basel III-compliant Tier 1 sukuk worth up to 2 billion riyals, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

QIB's total capital adequacy ratio, a combination of Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital -- regarded as one of the key indicators of a bank's health -- stood at 14 percent at the end of 2014, against a 12.5 percent minimum prescribed by Qatar's central bank.

STRONG GROWTH

Qatari banks have been able to build their loan books at a fast pace in recent years as the Gulf state spends billions of dollars developing infrastructure and prepares to host the 2022 soccer World Cup finals.

QIB's lending book jumped 27 percent in 2014 to stand at 60 billion riyals on Dec. 31, while deposits surged by 32 percent to reach 67 billion riyals at the end of last year.

This helped the bank make a net profit of 470 million riyals during the fourth quarter, according to Reuters calculations based on financial statements, compared with 360.3 million riyals in the last three months of 2013 and well ahead of the 333.3 million riyal average estimate of five analysts polled by Reuters.

The bank's board proposed a cash dividend of 4.25 riyals per share for 2014, up from 4 riyals for 2013, the statement added.

(Reuters / 18 January 2015)

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FIFA Rattles Qatari Sukuk Mired in Worst Month This Year

Prospects for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar are unsettling bond investors already rattled by political turmoil between the country and its neighbors, with its sukuk on course for its worst month in more than a year.

The yield on Qatar’s Islamic notes due January 2018 rose 19 basis points in September, on course for the biggest monthly increase since August 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The average yield for Middle East Shariah-compliant securities jumped 12 basis points in the period, JPMorgan Chase & Co. indexes show.

FIFA Executive Committee member Theo Zwanziger told Germany’s Bild this week that Qatar probably won’t host the world’s biggest soccer event in 2022 because of the summer heat. While Qatar dismissed his comments, it’s creating more market turbulence for the country, which has been at odds with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over its support for the Muslim Brotherhood in the region.

“The political differences with its neighbors combined with uncertainty over the World Cup is affecting sentiment,” Thomas Christie, head of fixed income at Prometheus Capital Finance Ltd., said by phone from Dubai yesterday. “The bond will drop further if its neighbors continue to isolate Qatar and this FIFA situation isn’t resolved.”

Personal Remarks

Delia Fischer, a spokeswoman for Zurich-based FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, said “these were personal remarks made in his personal capacity and not as a FIFA representative.” A panel will meet next month and in February to discuss the scheduling of the event, not moving it to another country, she said.

Qatar in 2010 won the right to host the tournament during its summer and after the end of most major European leagues. The world’s biggest liquefied natural gas producer reiterated a promise to use technology to cool stadiums in a statement yesterday, as temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). In the run-up to the event, Qatar is spending $200 billion on roads, stadiums, a rail network and a new city.

“There’s a lot riding on this,” Montasser Khelifi, a senior manager for global markets at Quantum Investment Bank Ltd. in Dubai, said by phone yesterday. “The potential for economic growth outside of the hydrocarbon industry is linked to the World Cup.”

Negative News

Qatar’s World Cup woes coincide with the nation being isolated for its foreign policies toward political Islamists. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have accused Qatar of threatening the region’s stability because of its support for the Muslim Brotherhood. Together with Bahrain they withdrew their ambassadors in March.

A Qatari diplomat denied Sept. 13 comments on Twitter by an official from the Egyptian section of the Brotherhood that Qatar had asked members of the Islamist group to leave the country. The diplomat said they were leaving on their own accord.

“It’s mostly negative news flow that’s affecting the sukuk,” Khelifi said. “The country’s fundamentals are still very strong.”

While Qatar’s economic growth will probably slow to 6 percent this year, according to the median estimate of 11 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, its higher than the 4.4 percent estimated for Saudi Arabia and 4.45 percent for the U.A.E., the Arab world’s two biggest economies. The nation’s benchmark stock index climbed to a record on Sept. 18.

“There’s no question that Qatar will repay the debt,” Christie said. “What it’s dealing with is a political issue and a series of public relations problems. These need to be resolved.

(Bloomberg / 24 September 2014)

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Qatar: Islamic banks outperform conventional peers

DOHA: The Islamic banks in Qatar outpaced conventional banks in the country in terms of growth in net profit during the second quarter of 2014 (Q2,14).

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) reported a 15.0 percent YoY bottom-line growth in Q2, 14, mainly due to improvement in top-line as well as fee income. Top-line growth was backed by strong financing growth.

Masraf Al Rayan reported 12.1 percent YoY growth in its bottom-line due to strong growth in net financing income,  Global Investment House (GIH) noted in its Q2, 14 “GCC Banking Sector” analysis.

The GIH analysts who covered five major Qatar-based banks   said the loan books of banks in Qatar grew the most in the region, by registering 15.4 percent growth on year-on-year basis, followed by the banks in Saudi Arabia (9 percent), UAE (4.8 percent) and Kuwait (4.6 percent).  

Due to stable growth in loan book, net interest income (NII) of GCC banks rose 4.3 percent YoY. Qatar’s NII grew by 2.9 percent. NII growth was led by UAE-based banks (8.2 percent YoY), followed by those in  Saudi Arabia (7.3 percent. NII of Kuwait declined 6.8 percent.

The asset base of GCC banks expanded by 9.5 percent YoY to $1.11 trillionn in 2Q14, with all the countries witnessing stable YoY growth. Increase in loan book supported the overall asset growth. Qatar-based banks witnessed the strongest growth in total assets (13.9 percent YoY), followed by banks in Kuwait (8.9 percent ), Saudi Arabia (8.7 percent ) and UAE (7.7 percent )

Net earnings of  GCC banks under GIH coverage increased 11.1 percent YoY to $5.3bn in 2Q14, mostly due to higher NII non-interest income and a 7.7 percent YoY drop in provisions;though4.6 percent YoY increase in operating expenses (opex) partially dampened the profit growth. Net profit of banks in the Kuwait and UAE increased by 20.7 percent  and 20.1 percent YoY, respectively while net profit of Saudi Arabia and Qatar based banks increased decently by 7.4 percent and 3.5 percent , respectively.  On QoQ basis,  net profit  of  the GCC aggregate  increased  5.4  percent, with Saudi Arabia and UAE (7.9 percent each) , followed by  Qatar (6.0  percent) ;  while  Kuwait witnessed a 14.9 percent decline in net profit on QoQ basis.

Qatar-based banks maintained their loan growth momentum due to an increase in public sector spending backed by several developmental initiatives taken by the government.

Among Qatar -based banks, Commercial Bank of Qatar, Qatar Islamic Bank and Doha Bank registered higher growth in loan book of 33.4 percent, 31.8 percent and 25.3 percent YoY, respectively.

Provision expenses of  GCC banks under GIH coverage declined 7.7 percent YoY during  Q14; however, increased 14.0 percent QoQ. Banks in Qatar witnessed 21.2 percent YoY plunge in provisions. Provisions of Qatar National Bank reduced by 56.4 percent YoY during the quarter.

(The Peninsula / 31 August 2014)

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Global Finance names QIB Qatar’s ‘Safest Islamic Bank'

QIB has been recognised as the ‘Safest Islamic bank in Qatar’ in Global Finance’s first-ever list of the “Safest Islamic banks in the GCC” through a rigorous evaluation process that assessed the stability of the region’s banks.

QIB Group CEO Bassel Gamal said, “It’s great to see that all our efforts and achievements in 2013 are being recognised by a trusted financial magazine like Global Finance.

The bank “scored high” for its 2013 credit standing, which was rated (A) by Fitch and (A-) by Standard & Poor’s, he said.

“The overall QIB 2013 financial results were very positive; it has increased business volumes across all market segments, which has a positive impact on QIB’s end of year financial results, solidifying its position as a leading bank in Qatar,” Gamal said. The ranking reflects QIB’s implementation of a “successful risk management policy” that strengthened all prudential ratios and built a strong foundation for future business expansion.

Gamal added that “QIB’s innovation and excellence in risk management meets all the rigorous safety standards and this, together with the bank’s commitment to providing excellence in banking services to all the clients, is what differentiates QIB.”According to Gamal, customer deposits saw a steep rise of 16.7% or QR50.4bn by the end of 2013 compared to QR43.1bn in 2012. “This enabled QIB to effectively support the constant growth of assets,” he stressed.

The “strong operating performance” in 2013 has enabled the bank to pursue a conservative impairment policy by allocating QR360mn towards improving the provision coverage on financial investments and financing activities compared to QR491mn in 2012. Gamal noted that QIB managed to raise the quality of its investment portfolio this year, where non-performing financing assets dropped 0.9% with provision coverage of 94% in 2013 compared to 1.6% with provision coverage of 63% in 2012.

For the first time, this year, Global Finance assessed banks that only offered Islamic products and have been rated by at least two reputable international agencies. A total of 25 Islamic banks currently operate in the Gulf, representing a third of all active commercial banks in the region.

Gamal said this recent accomplishment “is a result of our ongoing commitment to provide a seamless banking experience to our individual and corporate customers while at the same time ensure that we are applying a successful risk management strategy,” Gamal stressed.

(Gulf Times / 08 March 2014)

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Qatar: Call to make Zakat mandatory for commercial sector

If the payment of Zakat (obligatory alms giving in Islam) is made mandatory by law even on commercial entities in Qatar, the expected annual revenue would be to the tune of QR4bn, which is enough to support all the needy inside the country and many in other countries as well, a senior official has said.

Dr Mohamed Khalifa al-Kubaisi, director of Zakat services at the Zakat Fund, speaking at the Central Municipal Council (CMC) session yesterday, said that the Fund, unlike other charities, focussed on the needy inside Qatar, whether locals or expatriates. It is also a government entity which has limitations on publishing its activities.

“Currently the Fund supports 17,000 needy families. The number is expected to increase as the revenue of the Fund goes up due to the rapid increase in the country’s population. This puts great responsibilities and challenges on the Fund,” he pointed out.

Dr al-Kubaisi explained that the revenues of the Fund from donations and Zakat are spent 100% on charitable works and reach the needy in full without any deduction for the operational cost of the Fund such as salaries of the employees and other administrative issues as these are normally covered by the government.

He stressed that there are no really poor people among the locals, but those in need are usually who accumulated huge debts and could not pay back. He called for awareness efforts to persuade such people not to live beyond their means. As for the expatriates, there are still some needy families that need regular support.

“We calculate it like this: We divide the total income of the family members. We have standards for Qataris and expatriates. If the allowance of a Qatari family member falls beyond QR2,000-2,500 a month then the family is in need of a financial support from the Fund. For expatriates the allowance of a person in the family should come short of QR1,000-1,500 a month to be eligible for support.”

Dr al-Kubaisi said the Fund works in a way to spare the needy people any embarrassment. “They have to visit one time only the headquarters of the Fund to submit a request and register their information. They can call by phone and the staff of the Fund will reach out to them. A study of the case will ensue, when confirmed that the family is really needy, a monthly sum would be credited to their bank accounts on a regular basis for the duration of the aid as if it was a salary transfer.”

Dr al-Kubaisi urged yesterday CMC members to join its volunteers and ambassadors programme to promote the practice of Zakat giving in their constituencies and simultaneously help the Fund reach out to the needy.

“You know better your constituencies and we need your help in this respect. We have also engaged other influential people in this programme such as journalists, writers, artists, government officials and expatriate community heads,” he said.

Eventually, the move was highly welcomed by all CMC members, who saw a real need to focus efforts to address the local needs.

(Gulf Times / 22 Jan 2014)

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Zakat payment by firms almost doubles in 2013

The number of companies that has paid their annual Zakat (obligatory Islamic alms ) to the Zakat Fund has almost doubled in 2013, compared to the 2012 figures.

Dr Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Kubaisi, head of Zakat services section at the Zakat Fund, said yesterday that the number of companies that contributed the Zakat was 57 in 2012 and the number has jumped to 103 in 2013 when the Fund launched its free service for calculating the Zakat due on companies.     

The Fund honoured companies that paid huge amounts of Zakat at a programme yesterday. These were approved as Zakat giving companies and some others were also thanked for facilitating the collection of Zakat and promoting its importance among the local community.

Dr al-Kubaisi stressed the need to promote the practice of Zakat in all segments of the society. He also said that there was a proposal to ask ministries to deduct one, two or three days wages from the annual salaries of willing employees and the same forwarded to the Zakat Fund.

He said that it is still an idea under study and it would be perfectly a voluntary process with no obligations whatever.

(Gulf Times / 23 Jan 2014)

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Qatar's Masraf agrees deal to buy UK Islamic bank

Masraf al Rayan (MAR), Qatar's largest sharia-compliant bank by market value, has said it has reached an agreement on a cash offer by its UK unit, to buy out the Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB).

MAR said in a statement that the acquisition would give it the opportunity to grow services in the UK and continental European markets.

"IBB offers MAR the opportunity to invest in a financial institution with an established platform and with an existing client base of over 50,000 customers," the statement said.

Adel Mustafawi, Group CEO of MAR, said: “As one of the leading banks in Qatar, we look forward to supporting the Islamic Bank of Britain in its growth plans by strengthening its balance sheet and position in the market.

"We believe together we can build a stronger bank that is more capable of exploiting the enormous business opportunities available in the UK market for the benefit of our customers, shareholders, employees and the economies we operate in."

MAR declared a net profit of QR1.250bn, an increase of 15.4 percent during the first nine months of 2013 compared to similar period in 2012.

MAR currently operates 11 branches in Qatar.

(Arabian Business.Com / 01 Dec 2013)

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