Doha - MENA Herald: Culminating its seventh-year consecutive growth and the excellence it has continuously demonstrated while serving its clients, Qatar First Bank (Public) “QFB”, a leading Shari’ah compliant bank based in Qatar and listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), has been recognized as the ‘Best Shari’ah Compliant Commercial Bank’ in Qatar, at the 11th Islamic Business & Finance Awards – the most prestigious and the longest established Islamic financial services Awards program in the world.
QFB claimed the prestigious title following the closure of the voting period, during which the Bank garnered the most votes from the world’s senior banking professionals and finance industry practitioners. A secure online system collects votes from members of the 68,000 community of CpiFinancial.net, ensuring that the winners crowned on the night are deserving of the title and beyond reproach.
QFB’s Head of Whole Sales Banking Sector - Commercial Banking, Mr. Hussein Hamam, collected the award on behalf of the Bank at the Islamic Business & Finance Awards Gala Dinner held at the Emirates Towers Hotel in Dubai.
Commenting on the distinctive achievement, Mr. Sulaiman Yousif Al-Salhi, Chief Business Officer of QFB, said:
“With our growing range of innovative Shari’ah compliant products and services to the corporate and private banking market, as well as the bank’s continued growth and success in its role as a trusted financial advisor to clients, this highly regarded award is a testament to the Bank’s status as a leading player in Qatar’s Islamic financial industry and its capacity to take on potential market challenges amid the current economic conditions in the region. We are truly honored to be named the ‘Best Shari’ah Compliant Commercial Bank’ in the country at the leading annual event for the global Islamic financial community, and we will continue to work on improving our customers experience, streamlining our operations, and exploring more opportunities that contribute positively to our shareholders value and demonstrate genuine growth and profitability.”
QFB’s Corporate & Institutional Banking team has been able to maintain a growing portfolio offering clients a wide range of financing products and liability solutions including Wakala, Murabaha, Ijara, Istisna’a and others. The Bank’s client base encompasses government, private and public entities belonging to a diverse set of economic sectors such as trading, manufacturing, healthcare, private equity, retail, real estate and contracting, etc. The team has not only been able to grow the Bank’s local asset and liability book, but has also successfully established footprints in the regional GCC market via lucrative syndicate deals. During this year, the bank has grown its liability book by more than 10% to QAR 3.37 billion, according to Q3 2016 financials, reflecting investors’ confidence in the bank. Despite the volatile market conditions the Bank has also grown its financing portfolio by around 31% to QAR 1.45 billion recorded in the third quarter 2016 announcement. To further strengthen QFB’s position and expand the client base, the Bank’s team is heavily involved in product development and service improvement. Additionally, the team successfully added a new revenue stream by placing investment products with their corporate clients; demonstrating the synergies between departments – a hallmark to QFB’s strategy.
The Islamic Business & Finance Awards are a showcase of industry excellence for the Islamic Banking and Finance sectors in the world. The great and the good of the industry are brought together at the Islamic Business & Finance Awards, with more than 300 senior figures from the world’s leading financial institutions gathering to witness the winners in the widely contested categories. With a circulation of 12,697 copies distributed to all C-level executives in Islamic financial institutions around the world, the magazine has continued to be the key communication platform for the financial community.
The Islamic Business & Finance Awards’ accolade is the latest of several recognitions QFB has received in 2016, including being exclusively named 2016’s ‘Best Up-and-Coming Islamic Financial Institution’ in Global Finance magazine’s ninth annual awards, as well as winning the ‘Best Shari’ah Alternative Investment Platform’ title by ‘Wealth & Finance’ in this year’s ‘Alternative Investment Awards’. Last but not least, The Asset, Asia’s leading financial publication for issuers and investors, honoured QFB the awards of ‘Bank of the Year, Qatar’ and ‘Best Private Bank, Qatar’ at the The Asset Triple A Islamic Finance Awards 2016.
The prestigious awards celebrate the Bank’s milestone achievements throughout the year, such as its successful listing on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) in April, introducing its one-of-a-kind open architecture Private Banking platform that allowed QFB to opt for a client centric approach, partnering with the some of the world’s leading institutions to broaden its offerings to clients and fuel its growth strategy, as well as launching the series of innovative Shari’ah compliant structured investment opportunities that were met with great enthusiasm by private, corporate and institutional clients.